[Palace intrigue and a rise to power in the early stages, political scheming later; the male lead has a past, the female lead is chaste]
Leng Ruoyan is the illegitimate daughter of the Minister’s household. Her birth mother, Xuanyuan Qiuning, was a princess of the previous dynasty who became a concubine in the Minister’s household, lying low as she waited to restore the old regime. At last, she saw the day Leng Ruoyan entered the palace as a candidate in the selection of consorts.
She knew exactly why she was entering the palace: to claim the empress’s throne, and to take her place beneath the dragon.
When she learned that her legitimate older sister had framed and tormented her, sending her to the Cold Palace only to bring her out again and whip her repeatedly, she could do nothing but watch as her sister drove her to a mental breakdown and death.
By chance, she learned that the empress was pregnant. The waters of the harem still seemed too clear to her, not nearly murky enough. So she used fertility pills on the consorts with high rank and powerful families.
When the emperor learned that one consort after another was pregnant, he was delighted. Even his grief over the empress’s miscarriage faded.
Later, when the emperor learned that the pregnant consorts in the harem were suffering miscarriages one after another, his convictions began to crumble.
Leng Ruoyan used the opportunity to earn the emperor’s trust, while quietly chipping away at the empress’s authority. Then, with the emperor’s confidence behind her, she accused the empress of having an affair. The empress was deposed, and Leng Ruoyan used her child to claim the throne.
But the emperor was no fool, despite what she had assumed. To gain even greater power and status, she had no choice but to pretend to be on his side. Her agents had already infiltrated the court, bit by bit. Once the emperor was no longer useful, she would discard him without a second thought and send him to his death.
