I was the empress Xiao Che personally crowned, and the shield he used to protect the woman he loved.
Last night, he gave me a potion that would make me appear dead, intending to send me to Jiangnan to spend the rest of my life there.
But his beloved Consort secretly made me drink twice the dose. “His Majesty hates nothing more than people who fake their deaths. What do you think he’ll do when he finds out he was deceived?”
As my body was carried out through the palace gates, the consort was nestled in Xiao Che’s arms.
“The corpse cart is bumpy. I’m sure Her Majesty won’t mind, will she?”
Half a year later, Xiao Che had the consort’s entire family executed and found me, paralyzed, in a villa in Jiangnan.
He clasped my cold hand against his face, his voice trembling.
“Qingwan, will you come back with me and be empress?”
I looked at my fingers, unable to move, and smiled softly.
“Your Majesty, you said it yourself: anyone who fakes their death may never enter the palace again.”
