I've Served in the Palace for Five Years. I'd Rather Die Than Stay

Beneath the vermilion palace walls, he was the crown prince, cruelly stripped of his title within the forbidden palace. Rumors spread that the deposed prince was vicious and oversensitive, his moods impossible to predict. When she first entered the palace, she became his personal maid. Even in his darkest, most wretched days, she alone stayed faithfully by his side. In the stillness of the night, he held her close again and again, swearing to Heaven and the moon that he would make her his wife for life. Yet one day, the disgraced prince who had suffered every kind of humiliation in the cold palace suddenly reclaimed his title, becoming The Outcast, second only to the emperor and above all others. And she became a prisoner, forced to watch as he drew another woman into his arms and spoke to her tenderly. One letter of divorce severed five years of affection. The promise he had made to make her his wife for life became a shackle locked around her heart. She languished alone in the palace, struggling with every step, treading carefully and evading open and hidden attacks, while watching him rise ever higher until he ruled the world. “Your Highness, please let this servant leave the palace.” On the great hall’s floor, she knelt, tears streaming down her face. The young emperor’s expression darkened as he pinned her to the imperial bed. “If you want to leave the palace, kill me first!”