Shen Qingyue was reborn. The moment she opened her eyes, she saw the empress who had fought her to the death in her previous life, holding a bowl of medicine and smiling as gently as water. “You’re awake, little sister?”
She lowered her eyes and smiled faintly as memories of her past life surged back: the empress’s cruelty, the Consort’s arrogance, the Worthy Consort’s false face… and the emperor’s final, icy words: “A discarded pawn.”
In this life, she only wanted to keep her head down, be forgotten, and wait until she was old enough to leave the palace, far from this man-eating cage.
Until she “accidentally” came across the emperor meeting in secret with a hostage prince from an enemy kingdom in the imperial garden.
The young emperor looked up at her, his eyes filled with fear and menace she had never seen before.
That night, Shen Qingyue knelt on the cold golden bricks of the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
The emperor pinched her chin, his voice gentle and amused. “Think carefully before you tell me what you saw, beloved consort.”
She looked up and smiled with even greater innocence than he did. “Your Majesty, my eyesight is poor. I only saw two butterflies… entwined together. It was quite a lovely sight.”
He froze, and the storm in his eyes abruptly stilled.
Later, the women of the six palaces were astonished: this lowly Talented Lady had not only escaped being silenced, but had risen through the ranks and remained favored without ever falling from grace.
The empress smashed her phoenix seal, the Consort tore her silk, and the Worthy Consort snapped a fingernail.
Leaning against the emperor as she toyed with a jade pendant, Shen Qingyue heard the System prompt: [The emperor’s favorability +10. Current trust level: Dangerous. Warning: The emperor is suspicious by nature. Do not let your guard down.]
She chuckled, her fingertip tracing his chest.
Suspicion was just what she wanted.
Only by doubting everyone in the world could he… trust her alone.
