A happy ending, but not a conventional happily-ever-after:
· The realm is pacified, the throne left vacant, and a republican system of “Ten Ministers of State” is established.
· The leads live in seclusion in Jiangnan. Xiao Yu has only three years left to live, and Shen Qingyuan studies medicine and poison in an effort to prolong his life.
· Final scene: beneath a peach tree, she asks, “What if there is a next life?” He replies, “In our next life, I’ll meet you first, so I won’t let you cry.” A noblewoman who once fell into the abyss because she was blind to the truth is reborn at the turning point of her fate. She joins forces with the regent she once personally cast into hell, using the realm as a chessboard and her own flesh and blood as stakes. She seeks retribution from everyone who humiliated and trampled her, while also making amends in love to the man who burned away ten years of his life for her and gave her everything.
