one a thunderstruck fateful night

The god of thunder rumbled in the dark sky as soft cries of a new born child erupted inside the bedroom of the Duchess, the wife of the Duke who was a greatly honored general

Long ago, in the prosperous family of a general in the Yong Ning Empire, there took birth a beautiful child with eyes deeper than the abyss and dark raven locks that shone luminously under the bright moonlight ....

The child was a girl destined for stupendous greatness and high honor....

Even though women were not necessarily denied their rights to join the army or the court, they were suppressed by their own family members to even try to achieve something worth while in life and bathe in the bright light of glory...

The general didn't want his only child to suffer injustice in the patriarchal society, and thus decided to conceal the child's gender. He refrained to reveal it even to his closest of sub-ordinates.

Whenever someone asked about the child's sex, he would simply reply, "Does that even matter? That child is my offspring and I love it more than my life."

She was loved and cherished like a treasure in her father's care but was also trained harshly from early childhood so that she could be her father's heir someday...

Growing up, she learnt how to use all sorts of arms and weaponry, from a sword to a bow, a spear to a whip , a dagger to basic needles and even hand to hand martial arts. She was a naturally born prodigy, one among a million, and her father was happy that he never bound her because of her gender...

During her training he was as if a totally different man. He showed no mercy and didn't hesitate once to hurt her body if it meant to make her body more resilient. As ironic as it was, after the unrelenting and barbarous training, he was the one to worry over her the most as he applied ointment on the scarred skin that had turned black and blue with all the training..

She, who had now turned 16 years old did not look exactly beautiful but delicately handsome and charming in her robes that were clearly designed for a male. Her long ebony hair that were tightly bound above head allowed a few strands to fall over her deep jet-black eyes that were protected by a thick layer of eye lashes touching the mole under her left eye..

She didn't have lily white skin like the women were expected to have but her skin had tanned slightly after the excessive training of years...

She had apricot coloured skin and had beautiful feminine curves along with well defined muscles that were not too bulky but were easily noticeable...

Now the time had come, she had to succeed her father. And to do so, she had to win the approval of the emperor and the royal court..