Though she was a princess, she was constrained at every turn. She watched with her own eyes as her mother was brutally killed amid the struggle for power. From that moment on, she buried the girl who had always obeyed the rules of feminine virtue with her own hands. She refused to live at the mercy of others. She would seize power for herself and become a ruler, not a useless ornamental doll destined for a political marriage. If no empress had ever come before, then she would be the first. She would stand at the heart of power and control her own fate. She had to win this battle, and she would.
