The Palace Maid’s Rise: His Majesty Keeps Wanting to Make Me Empress

Yun Zhu, daughter of Yun Wan, enters the palace as a maid through the official selection process. She intends to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death and that of the late empress, and to clear the names of loyal subjects. Her beauty is breathtaking, and her features closely resemble those of the emperor’s departed love, Shen Zhiwei, the young princess of the Marquis of Yongning’s household. Xiao Jingyan takes notice of her.

Xiao Jingyan knows that his adoptive mother, Empress Dowager Su, is the real culprit behind his birth mother’s death and the Marquis’s framing. But with no proof, he has no choice but to act obedient and patient on the surface while secretly building his strength. Yun Zhu enters the palace alone and treads carefully, struggling to survive behind its red walls as a maid while investigating the old case.

When they first meet, both have ulterior motives, and each becomes a blade for the other. The emperor uses her beauty and intelligence to keep the empress dowager’s faction in check, while the maid uses his power to approach the heart of the court. In the treacherous inner palace, where consorts scheme against one another and the empress dowager watches like a tiger, Yun Zhu repeatedly finds a way out with her cool head and clever plans. She rises from lowly maid to consort, and ultimately becomes the woman of the realm.