In the eightieth year since the founding of the Rixi Kingdom, the second emperor, Yuan Chengxi, ruled incompetently and tyrannically, stirring up widespread resentment. Zhu Ridong, a general defending the southern capital, suddenly rebelled and swiftly occupied most of the southern cities. Yuan Chengxi was also assassinated by traitors within the imperial palace. His son, Yuan Zongzhi, hurriedly ascended the throne and immediately sent the great general Ning Zheng with a large army to defend Luori Fort, a major stronghold in the central region, against Zhu Ridong's forces.
Ning Zheng struggled to hold the central front. In the same year he rebelled, Zhu Ridong proclaimed himself emperor and named his new kingdom Dongyun. From then on, the Rixi and Dongyun kingdoms faced each other across the north and south. Countless soldiers shed immeasurable blood on the brutal battlefield between the two nations. After five years of war, the fighting had still made no progress. The third emperor of Rixi was devastated when Empress Wen Ting died in childbirth after giving birth to Princess Yuan Tianrou. His health steadily declined, and he finally died of illness in the sixth year of his reign. Before his death, he issued an edict recalling his illegitimate daughter and naming her Crown Princess.
In the sixth year after the war began, the Rixi Kingdom welcomed its first empress. At the enthronement ceremony, the new empress gazed expressionlessly at the subjects gathered below, unaware that a pair of sorrowful eyes was watching her. Only much later would people realize that this was the day the wheels of fate began to turn, linking the stories of so many people.
