[Why I wrote this story]
Kindness isn't something you're born with. It's a choice.
A femme fatale who brings a nation to ruin is a sacrifice to power.
Sincere love is hard to find, and in the end, it can't withstand weighing the pros and cons.
[Prologue]
On the eve of my wedding, the empress tricked me into entering the palace under the pretext of a banquet.
She drugged me and sent me to the imperial bed.
The current emperor is consumed by wine and women, debauched and cruel.
He once took pleasure in torturing palace consorts and ministers to death. Every official in the capital trembles at the mere mention of him.
The young heir of the Marquis of Dingbei's household, to whom I had been betrothed since childhood, came to break off our engagement in the middle of the night.
Before the imperial edict could arrive, my father anxiously sent me into the palace.
The emperor was delighted. He praised my father for knowing how to act in his own interests and issued two decrees.
One made me Consort Shu, granting me wealth and splendor;
the other made the young marquis General Who Pacifies the Far Reaches, ordering him to fight on the battlefield.
At once, people throughout the court began to gossip, and the common folk even started a betting pool.
They placed their bets, guessing how long the newly appointed Consort Shu would survive at the emperor's hands.
Theme: Keep kindness in your heart, and don't let the things around you change it.
