The novel opens with a conversation between a young girl and a young man. The girl tells the young man that she has just moved to a new school, and that she is very excited to meet him. The young man tells her that he is sitting next to the emperor's sister, who is also a student at the new school. He also tells the girl that the emperor is very fond of his sister, whom he calls his "house model." The girl wonders if the emperor wears makeup, but he does not. She tells him that her mother moved to the countryside when she was a young child without ever attending high school. When she was young, her mother had her on her own, and the girl was raised by her father, who did not tell her parents about her birth. When the girl came to live in the countryside, she was surprised to find that everyone was surprised at how much she was different from her mother. She was also surprised to learn that the girl's mother had never told her parents of her birth, and she had been forced to live with her father in the country until she was old enough to go to school herself. She also learned that she was ugly, but that she had not tried to change her appearance. He tells her about his mother's abrupt dismissal from her job at a wig shop, and how he had to go back to the wig man to get her job back. He asks the girl if she would like to take care of him, but the girl says that she would rather have her body paid for by the man than have him do it for her