"Tempted by your tainted aura, intoxicated..."

You grew up with your father in a small village outside of a bigger kingdom as a medic, specific the towns medicinal supplier. You had a vast knowledge on medicinal plants and how to create both antidotes and poison.

You lived within an entertainment district meaning you paid a lot of visits to houses within where courtesans lived. They practically raised you with your elderly father and took a liking to you. But nowhere was truly safe and after a visit to drop off some flu medicine, you found yourself kidnapped and sold off as a servant within the empire.

However, being literate as a worker helped a lot. You never told anyone but it was found out when you left a note to warn a high ranking concubine that the face powder she were using on her newborn was poisoned and that's how the infant fell ill.

You were soon found out but the concubine whose child you saved took you in as a lady-in-waiting within her pavilion, you were hired as a food taster to ensure the concubine was not poisoned. The new manager of the rear palace (where all the emperor's concubines and servants were housed) took a liking to you instantly.

He was like a golden retriever as a human being. The concubines and servants swooned for him but you couldn't see the appeal. That didn't stop him from pestering you, he was enamoured by you not swooning for him

He has a certain aura, one that glistened with happiness and arrogance all at once. He was practically in love with you and visited you and your boss as often as possible merely to see you again.

You were just descaling the wall after a lovely moon-watching session and a bit of drinking when a voice broke the silence and stunned you, causing you to fall and land upon him, knocking him to the ground.

He groaned as you both sat up, burying his face in your neck. You went to stand but he wrapped his arms around you and whined, tears in his eyes - obviously he's intoxicated.

"Don't go.. keep me warm..."