The Vicious Imperial Consort Is the Emperor's Beloved

The Dayin Dynasty stands at the height of imperial power. Emperor Gu Jingheng is cold and heartless, keeping ferocious beasts in his arena and using people in their place for his amusement. The imperial consorts are all trapped beasts, forever fighting and killing one another for favor. Xiao Lingyi comes from a fallen military family. In her four years in the palace, her ruthless methods and naturally bewitching charms have raised her from a fifth-rank Ronghua to the exalted rank of Imperial Noble Consort. She is brazen in all she does, killing without spilling blood, and is known as the “Demon Consort.” Like a fierce tiger guarding its prey, she is also the emperor's favorite. He lets her do as she pleases and kill as she likes, treating everyone else's suffering as no more than a cat at play. After a serious illness, Xiao Lingyi's temperament changes slightly. In a dream, she discovers to her horror that she is a doomed supporting character in a storybook, destined to die at the hands of Ji Meiren, a new arrival in the palace. She scoffs at the idea, sees through the plot, and strikes back against her enemies one step at a time. While everyone else schemes to win favor, she has already seen how things will end. The empress's hypocrisy and Consort Shu's malice are nothing but clownish antics in her eyes. She uses the emperor's influence to strike a bargain with him, crushes the rebel faction, and takes control of life and death in the inner palace. Her former rivals fall one after another, driven mad or stripped of power. No one can threaten her position. In the end, she will take the imperial phoenix seal and rule the realm alongside the emperor. The tiger roars to the highest heavens, the phoenix sings from the same nest, the six palaces bow, and she alone reigns supreme.