She entered the palace at fifteen, by imperial decree, to raise him, then ten years old.
She taught him to write, brewed his medicine, and took the late emperor's cane blows in his place.
Then, on the night the late emperor died, the first imperial decree he issued after ascending the throne was to imprison her in Zhaoyang Hall and summon her to his bed every night.
"You raised me for ten years. Now it's my turn to take care of you."
"For the rest of your life, you won't be going anywhere."
He waited for her for ten years, from the age of ten to twenty.
His dependence turned to affection, then to madness.
The more deeply he loved, the more mad he became. The more she tried to escape, the more her heart softened.
They loved and fought each other, locked in an agonizing push and pull.
In the end, she burned the letter she had written to escape.
"Jing Xuan, you win."
"I didn't win. I just bet you couldn't bear to leave."
