The Clouds Return

A frosty blade hidden in her sleeve, her delicate hands turning the tides.

When Zhou Shuyun was young, the final copper nail was driven into her mother's coffin. From then on, the deep and secluded mansion became a prison. She tread carefully at every turn, yet was still driven to the brink. She could either become a pawn in a marriage alliance or die amid the schemes and secrets of the inner household.

But she was determined to fight for a way to survive, honing her edge in blood and fire. She turned retreat into advance and used others to do her dirty work, crushing the jackals who manipulated events from behind the scenes beneath her skirts, one by one.

As the vermilion palace walls swallowed the last glimmer of sunset, she stepped into court over a courtyard strewn with corpses. There was no smoke of war here, but deadly traps lurked everywhere. The consorts' open and covert attacks and the powerful ministers' predatory stares made this place a hundred times more dangerous than the inner household. From lowly palace maid to the emperor's trusted confidante, she climbed higher with every step through bloodshed and turmoil.

Until one day, the young emperor took her hand, his gaze dark and deep. “I will give you power. Do you dare stand by my side?”

She smiled. “Your Majesty, aren't you afraid my ambition will grow too great?”

He smiled back. “My empire has room for your ambition.”

He cleared the thorns from her path, and she helped him secure his throne.

The court was a treacherous maze, but together they found a way through. The inner palace teemed with undercurrents, but they became each other's support. From a lonely girl trapped in a mansion to the woman who ruled the realm, she crossed a path littered with the bones of schemes and plunged through the abyss of human treachery, until at last she stood at the pinnacle of power.