[A satisfying power fantasy with no melodrama, thrilling from beginning to end]
[Fictional ancient setting] [No romance]
Her identity was switched at birth, and she was forced to take the place of an animal and become the eldest son of the Duan family. From then on, she was no better off than an orphan: her adoptive parents showed her no kindness, and her birth parents showed her no love. So she joined the army. If she died, she would die gloriously; if she lived, she would live brilliantly.
After nearly ten years of hardship, she achieved fame and success and returned home in triumph. Then they told her that women could not hold government office, and that they would not let her bring ruin upon the entire clan for her own sake.
She had been away for too long and had forgotten just how bloodthirsty her family was. She had thought that giving them her honors and her fame would be enough to satisfy them.
But they felt guilty for taking what belonged to someone else. To ease their guilt, they crippled and ruined her, and finally ended her life with a bowl of the deadliest heartbreak grass.
She hated the Duan family for their greed, and blamed herself for being blind and foolish.
If she got another chance, she would make them experience, one by one, the very things they feared.
Say something unpleasant. If the male protagonist dies once, the whole story will be useless.
Good plot, compact and not procrastinating
The pace is tight. I have never read a novel of this type. Will the new prince be the male protagonist?