He was determined never again to betray love or covet the riches and glory that came with status. Yet fate seemed to delight in playing tricks on him, forcing him to take the enormous risk of sheltering a beloved imperial consort within the palace. If this were ever exposed, it would mean certain ruin.
Things were even more complicated because he had defiled her, making the emperor a cuckold. But the cruelty of court intrigue surpassed all imagination. She was driven from the palace and forced into a brothel, where her chastity was in jeopardy. And she was one of the emperor’s most beloved women!
What no one could have expected was that the beauty who had generously helped him when he was destitute, the princess who had captured his heart, was actually the empress herself. Even his childhood betrothed had caught the emperor’s eye. Why did this newly appointed top scholar keep getting entangled with the emperor’s women?
Amid these dangers and tangled relationships, he remained devoted to her. Faced with a choice between power, status, and love, he chose love without hesitation. Though the road ahead was full of thorns, he was willing to challenge the supreme imperial authority for the sake of their true feelings, no matter the consequences. The world around them tried to tear them apart, but only made their love more unbreakable…
