Empress Xiao Lingyi has worn the imperial robes for ten years without giving herself away. But during this year's selection, the legitimate daughter of the Lin family, sent by a powerful minister, unsettles her heart.
She coolly makes Lin Yuesheng empress and confines her to the palace, never expecting this gentle, dignified woman to see through her.
Lin Yuesheng calmly sets down a plate of pastries. “Your Majesty works so hard for the state. Would you care to try something I made?”
Xiao Lingyi watches the plum blossoms in the pastries warily. “Does the empress know that I detest the scent of flowers?”
Lin Yuesheng smiles faintly. “I only know that, thirteen years ago, when snow fell at the palace gates, Your Majesty caught a young lady's plum-blossom hairpin.”
The plum-blossom hairpin slips from Xiao Lingyi's fingertips and falls to the ground. Before she ascended the throne, that was the only time she ever dressed as a woman.
