The Great Yong dynasty, the seventeenth year of the Jinghe reign, winter.
Lead-gray clouds weighed heavily over the imperial city. Fine snow swirled in the north wind, landing on the glazed tiles of the Hall of Mental Cultivation before sliding from the roof tiles and gathering into a thin layer of frost on the flagstones.
The Eighth Prince's residence, tucked away in the northwest corner of the imperial city, seemed even more desolate than usual, its winter landscape stripped of even the most ordinary hint of snow's beauty.
