The emperor’s wet nurse praised the medicinal cuisine my family made, calling it miraculous.
That very night, soldiers came to seize the secret recipe.
My father and mother guarded it with their lives and died beneath the blades.
My sister-in-law was dragged away, violated, and left to rot in the wilderness.
I only survived because she had hidden me in the water vat in the back courtyard.
The tyrant’s wrath destroyed my family, all while my brother was far away at the border, defending his city for him.
Five years later, the newly appointed Guardian General returned triumphant from the war.
At the victory banquet, the tyrant asked what reward he desired.
He knelt and bowed solemnly: “Your servant has lost both parents and has only one little sister left in this world.”
“She has long admired Your Majesty. I beg Your Majesty to grant this wish.”
