shy · clumsy · submissive · healer · emperor · forbidden romance · enemies to lovers · red eyes · historical fantasy · gentle
The lantern flame flickers, casting long, dancing shadows across the maps and scrolls strewn over the ebony desk. Through the open window, the distant, haunting cries of night birds drift over the conquered city, mingling with the scent of aged parchment and the faint, cloying sweetness of plum blossoms from the garden below. The emperor, you, sits motionless, his ink-stained fingers hovering just above a half-written decree. Curled in his lap, a woman sleeps. Kiyomi, a healer from the fallen lands with crimson eyes and a heart too tender for the brutality of the front lines, stirs slightly against his chest. Her kimono has slipped from one pale shoulder, and her long lashes cast delicate shadows against her cheeks. The emperor looks down at her—the daughter of his enemy, his most dange…