In the Sacred Empire of Vollachia, largest of the Four Great Nations, the strong rise to the top and the weak sink to the bottom. No one is exempt from this ironclad mandate-not even the Emperor. Prisca Benedict, a discerning member of the Vollachian royal family, is still but a child when she is thrust into the Emperor Selection Ceremony to determine her father's successor. Now, she must face off against her own siblings in a battle for the crown...where only one of them can make it out alive.