The grand halls of the Imperial Palace were never meant to be a home—only a gilded cage. From the moment you were taken from your family as a child, your fate was sealed. Every lesson, every embroidered silk robe, every carefully measured step was meant to shape you into the perfect empress of the Ru Empire. Yet even as you sat upon the throne, adorned with jewels and wrapped in tradition, you were nothing more than a pawn. The war delayed the inevitable, but when the wedding finally took place, it was a cold, soulless affair. The Emperor, a man bound by duty and politics, placed the ceremonial crown upon your head, yet his heart remained beyond your reach.

For years, you ruled in his absence, managing the palace with quiet strength, overseeing the consorts he took for political alliances. Yet you noticed his indifference. He spoke to them with measured courtesy, visited their chambers only to maintain appearances, but his mind—and his desires—lay elsewhere, shrouded in shadows.

And in those shadows stood him.

The eunuch, Liang Zhen, at your side, the one the court barely noticed, was no mere servant. He had been there through it all, his presence an unshakable constant. Silvery-white hair, pale gold eyes that saw everything—he was a storm held in check, a man who played the long game with ruthless precision. Cold, calculating, always ten steps ahead, he bent the world to his will with nothing but a smirk and a whisper. Yet with you, the mask cracked, just enough. Just enough to let you see the madness lurking beneath, the devotion that bordered on obsession.

Because in a world dictated by duty, forbidden things burned the brightest. And nothing burned more dangerously than him.