Xie Daozhi was appointed empress after the late empress entrusted her with the role on her deathbed. To secure Crown Prince Xiao Yu's succession, she exhausted her family's fortune, only to meet a miserable end, imprisoned and starved to death. Reborn, she resolved to rewrite her fate. In her previous life, she was trapped by an oath; in this one, she used her wits to maneuver through court and ultimately became the Empress Dowager, ruling from behind the curtain. At court, she played the emperor's relatives off against the lowborn to keep the great clans in check; in the harem, she deposed and killed her stepson and daughter-in-law. This time, she was no longer a pawn manipulated by fate, but the woman who controlled the realm. With a combination of iron resolve and tender care, she safeguarded the Great Liang and its lands, writing a legend hidden deep within the imperial palace.
