Madeline Clarke and James Reed had grown up together since childhood. James once promised to marry her the moment he topped the imperial examination as the Top Scholar. Camila Harris, the Chancellor’s daughter, scorned Madeline for her humble birth, claiming that she was the one James would wed. Crushed by despair, Madeline married a beggar she met by the roadside. Unfazed by the jeers of all, she was willing to share weal and woe with him—never knowing that the beggar was none other than the Emperor traveling incognito.