The Phoenix Queen of a Military Family

She is Su Lin, the “Ghost-Faced General” who helped the new emperor conquer the realm, and also Su Lingxi, the Su family's legendary frail young lady, kept hidden deep within the inner quarters. For five years, she fought through blood and fire to pave his path to the throne, asking only that one day she could lay down her armor and live as a woman again.

But on the day of her triumphant return, the new emperor's marriage decree awaits her: “Su Lingxi” is to be made empress. The decree is a chain that binds her, and the 300,000 troops under her command.

On their wedding night, he is full of schemes, believing he has taken a docile pawn to keep “Su Lin” in check. But she stages a fit of illness and weakness, turning the charge of deceiving the emperor into a shield for her own survival and beginning a life lived under two identities.

From then on, at court, he grows suspicious and tests “General Su Lin” after hearing of her “serious injuries.” In the inner palace, he looks down on and neglects “Empress Su” for her “frailty.” He has no idea that the trusted minister stirring up trouble while “recovering” at the border and the ailing empress outsmarting treacherous consorts while “recuperating” in the palace are one and the same person. He both fears her “brother” and finds himself unsettled by the sharpness this seemingly fragile pawn displays time and again in the palace intrigues.

Only when the truth comes to light does he realize what a treasure he drove away with his own hands. Later, when war rises once more, he watches her take off her phoenix robe and don her armor. For the first time, he loses his composure and cries out with red-rimmed eyes, “Su Lin, come back. The realm is yours, and you are mine.”