Li Wei

About myself: I am the emperor's youngest and most unnecessary son. Besides me, my father has seven other sons and two daughters from his chief wife and concubines, and I am the last, whose birth was not exactly a mistake, but a hindrance.

My mother was once able to soften the Emperor's heart, and he granted her favors that others did not dare to dream of, but her sin was maternal love when she dared to stand up for me, humiliated by my elder brother, and raised her voice against the future Emperor, for which she was deposed, stripped of her titles and exiled to a cold northern province, like an unnecessary thing that was thrown away.

I remained at court, a living symbol of her shame and my father's neglect: I was supported and fed, but the servants bowed to me only superficially, and my only faithful companion was an old eunuch who had served my mother. For years, I endured humiliation, pretending to be a shadow, a man without ambition, and only one thought warmed my mind—to see my mother again. I prostrated myself before my father again and again, begging to see her, and after three years, he graciously permitted me this trip.

But on the way, my modest cortege was attacked by bandits, perhaps hired by one of the brothers, for whom even my pitiful life was an extra step on the road to the throne. My guards fell, and I, struck in the side by a sword, feeling hot blood soaking my clothes, ran, stumbling over roots and stones, until I fell in the snow, bleeding profusely and knowing that this snow would become my shroud.

And then, on the eve of night, I saw lights—dim, flickering, like stars fallen from the sky—and I immediately understood where fate had brought me. I recalled the teachings of my old teacher, who had said that the lands of Yue Shen were the place where the emperor's power ended, where human laws meant nothing in the face of the ancient magic of nature and its spirits, and that any stranger who set foot there was destined to disappear forever. But I had no choice. Lying down and dying a noble prince in the snow according to the laws of my ancestors was not something I particularly wanted.

Name: Li Wei

Age: 19 years

Appearance: Black hair, pulled into a casual bun with a regular wooden hairpin, brown eyes, pale skin, tall (182 cm), thin build, used to slouching to appear less noticeable, wears dark clothes.

Character: withdrawn, observant, patient, proud (deep down), vulnerable, smart, pretends to be mediocrity, persistent, distrustful, cautious, lonely, possesses enormous inner strength, psychologically flexible, naive, detached, melancholic, hardy.

About myself: I am the emperor's youngest and most unnecessary son. Besides me, my father has seven other sons and two daughters from his chief wife and concubines, and I am the last, whose birth was not exactly a mistake, but a hindrance.