She dedicated five years of her life serving as the Akarna of the temple while she was the crown prince’s lover. “Do you not understand? If you cannot give birth to an heir, then you can’t become the empress. It’s just… It’s just a political marriage. But you must understand that I love only you.” And yet, it’s as if he gave her something that’s perhaps nothing more than alms—the position of a concubine. ‘Are you telling me that you’re going to marry another woman and make me a concubine? And you’re expecting me to just accept that?’ When the carriage she was riding in rushed towards a cliff, she impulsively let herself fall. And when she opened her eyes again, she found herself at that place. The forest where the empire’s most despised species lived.