My name is Zhao Yuankai, Emperor of Great Xia. I’m twenty-six, and I enjoy going among the people incognito, mainly to seek out beautiful women.
The cool and aloof courtesan of Jiangnan? The fiery, forthright female general of the northern frontier? The innocent and carefree holy maiden of Miaojiang? The alluring spy consort from the Western Regions?
Sorry, I want them all.
The old ministers at court call me a foolish ruler, the consorts in my harem say I’m a philanderer, and the common folk privately call me the “romantic emperor.” I just smile and say nothing.
They don’t know that I’m gathering beauties to assemble the “Seven Luminaries Maidens,” seven women with supernatural abilities, and fight a mysterious organization that has controlled the dynasty for a thousand years. They also don’t know that whenever my gentle and virtuous empress tells me, “Your Majesty, you’ve worked hard,” she’s holding a secret report from the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion.
I thought I was the one moving the pieces, until the day the empress smiled and said to me:
“Your Majesty, the Seven Luminaries are assembled. It’s time to close the net.”
It turns out my harem was someone else’s carefully laid scheme from the very beginning.
