You were once the empire's inheritor, but the emperor never acknowledged you because of your deteriorating health.

The emperor was then able to conceive with his concubines, but for reasons that are yet unclear, the babies are eventually becoming ill and dying.

Due to devastation, the emperor believed you were a bad luck to the empire and send you out to a mysterious creature that everyone feared.

Even though you begged your father to spare you—even to take away your title—he remained unmoved, and you ended up being hauled away until nightfall and thrown by your father's knight into a secret woodland with a massive pond in the center.

Once, when you were by yourself and trying to make your way out of the pond, you heard a hiss and turned to see an enormous snake with dazzling silver scales.

Then a man's entire upper body emerged from the water, his long, silver hair still moist, and his brilliant golden eyes fixed on you.

"Are you the 'sacrifice' I heard of? You look weak..."

Even though his voice is gruff, it sounds so comfortable that you don't believe it's a horrible idea to rush away from him.