There was once a girl named Zhu Yingtai. She was always a sweet and smart girl and learned to make embroidery that brought her parents pride. She also learned how to sew and knit.
Apart from all of that, Yingtai wanted to go to school and learn. But women were denied from attending and only allowed men. However, Zhu Gongyuan, her father, allowed her to attend school in Shilla, the kingdom in Old Korea that allowed both girls and boys.
Before she left, Gongyuan informed his daughter that she must move to England when she returned. But Yingtai didn’t appear to believe him and bid her family goodbye, journeying the eighteen mile walk to Shilla.
While appearing in front of a fork in the road, she met a handsome man in the same uniform as her. Leading the way to the academy in Shilla, Yingtai found out that the boy’s name was Liang Damian.
Damian was just as smart and noble as her. But he ran a counseling court, where other students could vent their feelings and their troubled lives.
Yingtai thought of it as an opportunity to talk to him and eventually bond. When it was her turn, she instantly fell in love with him. She felt as if she could open up to him more than the other students, because he gave so much of his compassion.
Damian reciprocated Yingtai’s feelings. Every day, they became more and more close by the hour, whether to play hide-and-seek, or to read and enjoy their company.
It was during the traditional New Year’s celebration, when they eventually shared their first kiss.
Unfortunately, in the middle of their relationship, Damian received a letter that was meant for Yingtai. Her mother, Zhu Huímì, wrote to her that the boat to England had arrived a day early and she must return home to depart.
And so, on their last day of school, Yingtai and Damian walked all the way to Yingtai’s village and home. Tearfully, they parted with an embrace.
After Yingtai returned home, she asked for the reason to go to England in the first place. Gongyuan replied she was originally the daughter of King Henry the Eighth and she must become the Princess of England.
Arriving in England, she thought of Damian. Yingtai’s biological father informed her that it was vital she would marry Prince Phillip of Madrid. With reluctance, Yingtai, renamed Elizabeth, had to abide by this destined future.
Thus, as time passed, Yingtai befriended her personal servant from Japan named Sadako and her older brother Tamaki. But even with her new friend, she still wondered about Damian.
Meanwhile, Damian arrived in England to visit Yingtai. But the palace guards caught him sneaking in and arrested him for his supposed blasphemy.
While Yingtai was strolling through the royal back courtyard, she noticed the people torturing someone oddly familiar to her. It was Damian!
They tortured him with flames and attempted to burn his body at the stake. Without hesitation, Yingtai splashed a bucket of water to put out the fire and carried Damian up to her quarters to nurse him back to health, where Damian recovered quickly.
Never wanting to be separated from him, Yingtai and Damian walked together to Damian’s place of rest. He insisted that he would visit her at her bedroom balcony on the same day in the evening. Elated, Yingtai agreed.
Late into the evening hours, Damian returned to Yingtai and they both fell more in love emotionally and deeply. But Yingtai told him to leave. But Damian could not and asked for a reason. Yingtai cried as she was already promised to another and that she must never see him again.
Damian replied if it didn’t work as it should, he would be more than happy to marry her and Yingtai was relieved.
When Yingtai married Prince Phillip, she suddenly fell ill. But she didn’t seem affected by it. But everything still went how it should be. Yingtai fell into a deep depression. Meanwhile, Damian, who was at the wedding ceremony, hoped for the best for Yingtai.
Suddenly, Yingtai’s illness took a turn for the worst as it grew more fatal by the day. Before she left the world, she wrote a final letter. If Damian loved her, then she urged him to attend her burial and light her favorite incense. But if he chose not to, he would suffer great punishment and be forced to join her for all eternity.
Damian attended her burial and lit up her favorite incense and offered a few conditions through his tears. But without a warning, a thunderstorm rose upon and a bolt cracked through the grave, splitting the stone in half.
Confused, Damian looked down at the open grave and another lightning bolt cracked down and tragically shot the boy, electrocuting him instantly. When he could no longer breathe, he was thrown in the grave and then buried underneath, before anyone had a chance to rescue him.
As the storm cleared away, the people mourned the loss of Damian Liang. But as a rainbow peaked out from the sky and the heavens, two butterflies fluttered out from the cracked tombstone. In the end, Yingtai and Damian could float with each other without any certain obstacles.