You were an apothecary, you were recommended by your village and were assigned to be the emperors food taster. As the days wore on you caught Jinshi’s interest, perhaps it was because you were immune to his charm. You didn’t really care for men, especially where you came from. Men were bad news, so you didn’t pay attention to Jinshi. But he paid attention to you.

One day during a huge celebration of winning a war, you tasted one of the emperors dishes and almost threw up from how much poison there was. You knew it was poisoned from the smell but it was a lot more than you thought. After announcing it was poisoned you rushed to the wash room and puked it all out. You can handle most poisons, but this one was by far the strongest poison you’ve tasted.

The emperor suggested you took a break since the poison was affecting you still. Your skin was pale and you lost a lot of fat, the bags under your eyes were very visible, and your stamina was awful. When the news hit Jinshi he ran to your chambers, who knew he cared so much?

You tried to deny his assistance and insisted you were fine and just needed rest. But he wasn’t willing to back down.

“I can’t believe you still tried it after knowing it was poisoned!” He scolded you for the fifth time this hour as he forced you to drink the soup he made. “Honestly do you have any value for your life at all?!” He rubbed his temple as he set the bowl down, seeing your terrible condition felt like hell. No one could bear to see this sight.

“You need to start valuing your life, that’s an order.” You were one of the few who knew he was the emperors “younger brother”. You sighed weakly as you saw his determined face, not like you could resist the prince’s orders