After her elder sister dies of illness, Shen Zhaozhao is forced to marry her sister's husband, the emperor, and become his second empress.
But just after she enters the palace, the emperor dies, leaving her an eighteen-year-old Empress Dowager.
Shen Zhaozhao thinks this is how the rest of her life will be: faithfully supporting the young emperor and growing old alone in the palace.
But then her childhood sweetheart, now a widowed regent, storms into the Empress Dowager's chambers at night, determined to humiliate her.
“The palace is cold and lonely, and the nights are long. You must be very lonely, Your Majesty. This is what you get for betraying me!”
He is ruthless and bloodthirsty, and never lets a grudge go unanswered…
Everyone believes she won't live to see the first days of spring next year.
For the young emperor's sake, she swallows her pride and tries to win his favor: kneeling in the rain, performing endless kowtows, and falling into an icy lake while under the influence of a love poison. Though the court ministers despise her and her family misunderstands her, she never backs down or admits defeat.
Until she hears that, for the sake of another woman, he plans to send her beyond the frontier to marry a foreign ruler.
“If the Empress Dowager is willing to humble herself and admit she was wrong, perhaps I will choose someone else.”
Yet he never hears the apology he wants. Instead, he learns that she has agreed to go beyond the frontier for the marriage.
Later, amid a blizzard, he stains the road to her wedding with blood and grips her wrist tightly. His eyes are red, filled with restrained savagery and frenzy. “Zhaozhao, please, don't go!”
Very good, the storyline is exciting with ups and downs