Two humble women choose very different paths to attain status within the Imperial Palace. Lau Sam Ho (Charmaine Sheh) and her servant, Yiu Kam Ling (Tavia Yeung), were brought to the Palace by Sam Ho’s mother, Kong Choi King (Kristal Tin), a gifted jewelry maker who was commissioned by the Empress Dowager to make a beautiful gold hairpiece in the shape of a phoenix. But when the hairpiece is thought to be cursed, Choi King is beaten to death. Her parting words to Sam Ho were to live up to the “goodness” of her name and to watch out for Kam Ling like a sister. The girls grow up as servants in the Palace, and Sam Ho eventually becomes an apprentice in the House of Attire and Kam Ling becomes an apprentice in the House of Jewelry. Sam Ho falls in love with the palace scholar, Ko Hin Yeung (Kevin Chang), and the two try to protect Prince Lee Yi (Moses Chan) from those who try to harm him. Meanwhile, Kam Ling tries to get into the good graces of Dowager Concubine Cheng (Mary Hon) so that she can get close to Prince Yi, her son, and gain power within the palace. Will Kam Ling forsake her sisterly bond with Sam Ho to gain the power she desperately wants? “Beyond the Realm of Conscience” is a 2009 Hong Kong drama series directed by Fong Chun Chiu.