In a dynasty where status is determined by bloodline and beastly features, Selena, a lowly fox clanswoman, is taken into the royal court by the eagle-headed king Leon because she resembles the late White Deer Queen. At first, she only wants to keep a low profile and hold onto a glimmer of true affection, but she is repeatedly framed by the favored concubine Vera—losing her child, witnessing her best friend’s public execution, and her family being wrongfully accused of treason. Having realized she is merely a substitute for the king’s memories, Selena awakens completely, abandons her innocence, and plots revenge with allies, leveraging the king’s guilt, royal suspicions, and the temple’s superstition about bloodline. She eliminates all her enemies step by step but gradually loses herself in revenge. Finally, on the eve of becoming queen, she comes to her senses and refuses to be anyone’s shadow. At the beast pilgrimage ceremony, she exposes the royal family’s crimes, overthrows the old order, and transforms from a weak substitute into a regent queen who holds royal power and rewrites the fate of the beast clan.
