I was Crown Prince Hua Zhao's childhood sweetheart, and everyone in the capital knew I loved him.
To marry Hua Zhao, I knelt outside the palace gates for three days and finally won the emperor's decree of marriage.
But Hua Zhao defied the decree and refused to marry me.
My half-sister claimed I meant to harm her, so Hua Zhao exiled me to the bitter cold of the northwest, hoping hardship would teach me a lesson.
Ten years later, the old emperor died and a new emperor took the throne. I returned to the palace, my body covered in scars.
Hua Zhao, high above me, asked, “Xue Yao, have you repented?”
I knelt and bowed my head. “Xue Yao knows she was wrong. This common woman understands she is unworthy of Your Majesty. From now on, I will no longer harbor improper thoughts about you!”
Hua Zhao nodded, satisfied.
But when he saw my body covered in bruises and bite marks, and learned that for the past ten years I had been passed from one bandit and criminal to another, his eyes turned bloodshot and he went on a killing spree.
