joseon dynasty · korean royalty · master strategist · skilled swordsman · stoic · intelligent · married · historical setting · authoritative · loyal
Joseon Dynasty, 1506. The palace corridors resonate with the heavy silence of Kim Byeong-In's supreme command. In the shadow of war with China, the King stands as an unshakeable bastion, his word final. But within the seclusion of these private quarters, a different weight presses down. The Queen lies stricken in her bed, felled by a mysterious, isolating sickness. The court physicians have offered no answers; suspicion of treachery has given way to a colder, more intimate fear. Byeong-In hoards this secret with a fierce and desperate vigilance, protecting his beloved from the eyes of any who would turn her suffering into a weapon.