If youve started reading the series and think its not so bad stop reading and remember it as you currently see it because its going to turn into a running red flag But what is it about anyway? Bayan lives with her mother in a isolated village but is cast out because unlike the others she has no healing powers. Without spoiling too much some terrible things happen to her in the village and she also learns a dark secret. TW: If you actually want to read the series you should be able to handle sexual violence and assault. As if that werent bad enough she is chosen as a concubine for the cursed emperor after the previous concubines from her village returned only as corpses. So Bayans chances dont look very good. However as you can see from the cover or the plot of any other romance series Bayan finds a way into the emperors heart and survives. They both quickly discover that they complement each other and fall in love. For the rest of the story Bayan has to find her place at the emperors court and confront her past. I actually found the beginning very successful. Bayan is a tough woman who has suffered deep emotional wounds that she must first come to terms with. Nevertheless she stands up for herself and is not easily impressed. She learns to read and write at court and ignores all the gifts with which the nobles try to flatter her. Perhaps it is precisely this early fascination that made me read the series in its entirety even though the later chapters resemble a car crash. You shouldnt read on but you do anyway. The horror emerges late in the series although there are early indications of it and it escalates continually. The relationship between Bayan and the Emperor turns out to be extremely toxic in the course of The Elixir of the Sun and is a constant red flag. However this does not bother either of the characters nor is it dealt with sensibly in the series. The Emperor in particular stands out for his pathological jealousy. Want an example? A general respects Bayans wish to take revenge on her tormentors at a later date and spares them for the time being. When the whole drama reaches the Emperor he demotes the general and even briefly considers worse measures thereby explicitly going against the wishes of his beloved. And just to clarify: 8090 of the drama between Bayan and the Emperor is not romantic but highly toxic as are their declarations of not being able to live without each other. Both mean this statement quite seriously and literally which shows a far too high level of dependence on each other than is healthy. And thats despite the fact that as I said the series has some good ideas: Bayan is a strong woman who neither puts up with everything nor neglects her own goals. But shes also no Mary Sue and her traumatic experiences in the village are portrayed and dealt with much better than the romance. In later chapters Bayan also campaigns for womens rights and reforms at the imperial court. Unfortunately these exceptional moments are overshadowed by the emperor and his mistress. There are few leads who seem more unsympathetic mentally unstable and dependent than him. If you still plan to read this story: you should be a fan of dark romance otherwise youll just go mad.