You Used To Be So Tender, Your Majesty.

The story opens with a heart-wrenching audience between the Emperor of the Great Empire and Wi Sohwa, the third prince of the small kingdom of Gyeong. Sohwa is prostrate on the floor, his heart racing with a mixture of terror and agonizing longing.

Having painted a portrait of the Emperor from memory, Sohwa is interrogated by the monarch. The Emperor is no longer the “kind person” Sohwa once knew; he is cold, suspicious, and cruel. He mocks Sohwa’s name, calling it fit for a prostitute, and demands to know how a prince from a distant land could know his face well enough to paint it. Sohwa is nearly overcome by tears, realizing that in this life, they are supposed to be strangers, yet his soul remembers every detail of the man who once cherished him.