Luo Kui was once the sharpest blade in the covert guards and the fiercest general on the battlefield. Now, she is a consort in the imperial harem.
She had taken an arrow for Pei Jingxuan, slain his enemies, and defended his cities. Yet when he presented her with the phoenix seal, she knelt and refused his proposal: "This servant only wishes to be Your Majesty's sword."
The emperor flew into a rage and demoted her by imperial decree to a lowly palace maid.
But what palace maid can carry a sword into court? What palace maid dares look coldly at the emperor?
More absurd still...
The colder she became, the more the emperor, once decisive and ruthless, descended into madness:
■ He ordered her to stand watch at night, then climbed through her window every night to bring her medicine.
■ He forced her to serve tea, then publicly fastened an imperial cloak around her shoulders.
■ Even when the Rongdi envoy came to threaten them, he had her pressed into the Dragon Throne and asked, "If you'd only say yes, I would wash the grasslands in blood for you this very moment!"
