Years ago, I saved the crown prince from a falling beam.
It broke my leg, and I became the capital’s notorious young lady with a limp.
Later, when he ascended the throne, he sat high in the imperial hall and asked what reward I desired.
Everyone thought I loved him deeply and would surely ask to enter his palace as a consort and remain at his side.
After all, no official family in the capital would take a woman with a limp as its mistress.
What they did not expect was that I would ask for a title of my own and the revenues of a thousand households.
As they whispered among themselves, no one noticed the faint tension in his brow vanish.
“Then let it be as you wish.”