[Everyone is unhinged, with no morals, no ethics, and no limits. This is pure wish fulfillment, set in a fictional world. Readers who care about historical accuracy, beware.]
[Unhinged, lovesick empress x cool-headed, career-minded strategist]
Jiang Du discovers that Song Yin, secretly a traitorous minister plotting rebellion, is almost too upright for his own good.
For example, on the night before her wedding, she drugs him and spends a passionate night with him. She expects him to be furious that she has ruined his plans, but Song Yin merely sees her off with a gentle smile and tells her to be careful at Prince Pingyang's residence.
For example, when she and Song Yin catch the emperor and his son's wife in an indecent act at a palace banquet, she takes advantage of the suggestive sounds to tease him. Song Yin simply tells her that, as another man's wife, she should behave with virtue.
And then there's the time she chops her insolent concubine into pieces and cooks her for Prince Pingyang. Song Yin backs her up, then tells her that a ruler should not kill indiscriminately.
She always thinks Song Yin is so tolerant of her because she is the rightful sovereign of the previous dynasty, his ruler. But later, she discovers that Song Yin has another master.
And she is nothing more than a pawn protecting that so-called master.
