I Reached the Top by Disguise

She was an orphan raised by her enemy, learning to wear a mask like armor amid a mountain of lies. At seven, she memorized her first words against her conscience. At seventeen, her talent opened the gates of the imperial court. At twenty, she navigated between her adoptive father, a princess, and the emperor, wielding lies as both blade and stepping-stone. She rose higher and higher along a path paved with blood and flesh, until she could no longer tell where the mask ended and her true face began. When she finally stood above the world, she realized the most unbreakable mask of all had long since grown into a second face.