A puppiteer versus a trickster. He moves kingdoms with mere whispers. She breaks rules with a smile. When Empress Esmeralda died, the decree she left behind shook the empire-so absolute that even the monarch couldn't defy it. And with those final words, Marga, the Empress' niece, was forced into the harem as the new-- and only-- chosen Empress. And so they thought Marga is a mere hooligan too naive to be tangled in the wars of silken garden, a thorn will always prick the hand that dares to carry the flower it tangles with. He thought she'd be another pawn. She thought he'd be easy to fool. When the empire's most dangerous manipulator meets its most unpredictable thorn, history stops behaving. He mastered control. She mastered chaos. And their union will either forge a reign aligned... or ignite a ruin no throne could ever bind.