She had known from childhood that she was different from everyone else. Though, of course, she was different. She was the heir to the throne of Shuyue, the eldest legitimate daughter of the Ye imperial clan, and would one day become the only female ruler in the history of the Eastern Continent, leading Shuyue toward greater strength and prosperity.
“You’re not like everyone else.” She was still very young then, sitting up straight on her uncle’s knee as the man with the gentle smile combed her long hair with an ivory comb. He held her against his chest, his smile tender and serene, and called her by name again and again.
“Lanxin, you’re not like anyone else,” he said. “Lanxin, how could you ever be like anyone else?”
That was right. From the moment she was born, she had been different. Born to privilege, every word, every action, every choice of hers affected the fate of the realm. How could she be like everyone else? She had always been this way and never thought it strange. But she had never imagined that one day someone would ask her, with such pity, “Lanxin, don’t you think it’s tragic to be this way?”
For the first time in her life, she was left bewildered, unsure how to answer. Before her stood a man of peerless beauty, dressed in red like blood. He was her husband, the love of her life. Their story began with fate, turned into a middle act where they were neither friends nor foes, and led to an ending neither of them could have foreseen.
