“Young Master Kyong... you are alive.” The fiancé I thought had died five years ago was alive.
“Yes, I came back to kill you.” All that reflects in his eyes is his hatred for me.
Emperor Seongmun of the Songyang Empire, the father of Sohwa, is a deeply suspicious man who would even execute his own brothers to protect his throne. The Emperor originally intended to welcome Won-i, the son of his loyal subject Baekjeong, as his son-in-law. However, political enemies framed the young man's family for treason.
Although Sohwa desperately tried to save her fiancé, she was detained by imperial decree and forced to helplessly watch her lover's family be annihilated. Upon hearing the news that Won-i had been beheaded and his head displayed in the town square, Sohwa attempted to take her own life to follow him. She failed, and was left to drag out a meaningless, corpse-like existence.
Her older brother Yujeong, who succeeded Emperor Seongmun and seized absolute power, had always harbored jealousy toward Sohwa. Using the lives of Won-i's surviving mother and sister as leverage, he forced Sohwa into a miserable marriage with a man of lowly status, plunging her life into the mud.
Five years later, a rebellion arises to overthrow the tyrannical Yujeong. Won-i, whom everyone believed to be dead, returns to the palace as a victorious hero. However, Sohwa's joy at their reunion is abruptly shattered—and her heart broken all over again—when the man she once loved declares he has returned only to kill her.
Following the rebellion's success, Sohwa is stripped of her royal status and reduced to a government slave, penalized for having paid tributes to the Baekdu Cult under Yujeong's threats. Though Won-i harbors a deep hatred for Sohwa—the daughter of the man who destroyed his family—he cannot bring himself to end her life. Instead, he pleads with the new emperor to give her to him as his personal slave.
Sohwa has lost everything and fallen to the very bottom, while Won-i still secretly harbors lingering feelings for her. Though the only way to complete his revenge is to kill her, the hesitation in his heart refuses to fade.
“Even though I hate you so much, why can't I kill you?”
