I spent seven years confined with the deposed crown prince, tasting poison for him and taking arrows meant for him.
Again and again, I barely escaped death.
Yet after he ascended the throne, he made his childhood sweetheart his empress.
I remained nothing more than a lowly palace maid.
Everyone knew he despised me.
But when I finally came of age and prepared to leave the palace, he seized my wrist and demanded, ‘Do you have a heart at all?’