[Palace intrigue + revenge + fictional setting + clear-headed heroine]
When she was a child, Chu Wushuang fell in love with a man, the lofty emperor.
When she grew up, she was deposed and died in the Cold Palace.
Only as she lay dying did she learn that the emperor had never loved her. He had deceived, humiliated, and despised her.
He had always believed she had gained her position as empress through threats and bribery.
He let the Noble Consort cut off her food, and even allowed the palace maids and eunuchs to skimp on the clothes she needed to keep warm, leaving her to die on a freezing night.
And she was not the only one.
Her entire Chu family had also been killed by him and left buried in the snowy wilderness of Jiu Mountain.
Corpses littered the ground, and sorrow filled the land.
She thought she would meet the same fate after death, her body left in pieces, but someone came to bury her.
She had only met him a few times.
He held her body and refused to let go, then dug a grave with his bare hands and buried himself beside her.
He said he only wished to stay by her side after death and shield her from the storms of the underworld.
When she opened her eyes again, she was back before she had been framed.
The Chu family was still alive, and so was he.
This time, she would beat the scoundrel senseless and seize his throne. She would ascend to the seat of power and become ruler of all under heaven.
She would protect the Chu family, too, and the quiet man who had died alongside her.
