First-person Point of View
Once, Like a Swan, She Came
I was the greatest beauty in the capital—and the demon consort cursed by all as the ruin of the realm.
While the emperor was away at war, the empress poisoned me to death.
She believed that once I was gone, the emperor would become her wise and mighty husband again.
What she did not know was that I was the last chain holding his bloodlust and murderous rage in check.
I died.
And he went utterly mad.
