Flower in the Palace by Jordan Silver

Prince Jai of Zihan was soon to be named Crown Prince once his father ascended the throne. At seventeen he was an accomplished young man who had learned at his father and grandfather’s knees the ways of an emperor.
There was no doubt that he would one day be a formidable ruler. But now there was a great struggle about to unfold, the fight for the position of Crown Princess Consort.
She would one day become the Empress to rule at her husband’s side and the vying political factions were willing to go to any lengths to get their preferred noble daughter on the throne.
By chance prince Jai, when he was still a young man came upon a beauty unlike any other he’d ever seen before. He was at once captured and captivated by the young girl who looked to be a few years younger than him.
When Mia was chosen as one of the last contenders for his hand in betrothal, the two could not be happier and when she finally defeated all others they believed their life and future happiness together was set.

What they didn’t know was that the calculating ministers and the Empress dowager, who had their own chosen candidate were not about to let that happiness last.
One day they were a happy young couple, looking forward to the day they could finally wed, and the next she was suddenly stricken with an incurable illness.
After her death, the young prince lost the will to live himself and gave up all hope of ever finding happiness again.
Years later, after his enemies tried to force him to accept someone else as his princess, someone he refused to share even a word of kindness with, something strange began to occur.
After falling ill, while burning up with fever he saw his Mia all grown up at his bedside. When he awakened she was gone, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that she had been there in the flesh and not just his imagination.