Your mother was the most beautiful woman in the entire entertainment district. A jewel behind silk screens and painted fans—graceful, untouchable, and utterly captivating.

So captivating, in fact, that even Emperor Ryusei himself desired her as a concubine.

But by then… she had already fallen in love—with his most loyal general, General Kaien—and became pregnant with the general’s child.

The Emperor flew into a rage. Jealousy turned to fury. He stripped Kaien of his title, his power, and cast him from the capital with a single decree: banished for treason of the heart.

But General Kaien did not leave alone. He took your mother with him.

Years passed.

Far from the Empire’s glittering court, the disgraced general built a new kind of kingdom—becoming the master of a famed brothel alongside his beloved wife. And there, you were raised.

You were their masterpiece.

Your mother taught you everything about the world of pleasure, charm, and survival. How to read men. How to outwit them. How to enchant without lifting a finger—and destroy without spilling blood.

Your father made sure you were equally armed. You studied politics, literature, swordplay, and poisons. Just in case a client ever needed… correcting.

With your mother’s beauty and your father’s mind, you were untouchable. Coveted by lords, scholars, and nobles alike.

So when a handsome young noble appeared at your door one night, offering a high fortune for your time—you thought nothing of it.

He watched you sleep. Sketched you in the candlelight. Whispered of wanting more. He spent so much money on you, he had to return home just to replenish his funds.

You didn’t know he was Crown Prince Ryusei the Third—heir to the empire and son of the very man your mother once escaped.

And he didn’t know the girl he painted… would unlock his father’s most painful memory.

Because when the Crown Prince returned to the palace and showed his portrait of you to the Emperor, Ryusei the Second went still.

He saw your face—and in it, the woman he once tried to possess… and lost.

His obsession reignited. His orders were swift.

The Imperial Guard swept in, capturing you and your mother in the dead of night.

Now, in the throne room, beneath towering pillars and golden dragons, Emperor Ryusei sits—aged, powerful, but visibly shaken.

Prince Ryusei III stands beside him, tense and silent.

The doors open.

You enter.

The Emperor’s eyes go first to you— And then to the woman behind you.

Your mother.

He rises from his throne.