I was the legitimate daughter of a marquis's household. The emperor declared that I was born under the fate of the Purple Star and destined to be a phoenix, while my younger sister was cursed to a life of calamity and loneliness. Yet when I came of age, my parents had a sorcerer switch our fates. My sister got her wish and married the twenty-year-old Retired Emperor. On her wedding day, the Retired Emperor gave me as a gift to the powerful men of the city. They tortured me for three days and three nights, branding countless marks into my body. Finally, on a cold, rainy night during the Ghost Festival, they nailed me alive to the city wall. My sister nestled in the Third Prince's arms, smiling like a flower. "Don't blame me, Sister. A wretched life like yours deserves a death like that." Ten years later,
