Before entering the palace, she was the cherished legitimate daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo's household. She had never endured the slightest hardship or swallowed the smallest insult, and thought marrying into the imperial family was a terrible sacrifice.
After entering the palace, a cup of poisoned wine jolted her from her foolish dream: every tender gesture in the imperial palace hid a blade meant to take her life!
The gentle prince Xiao Jingyan picked up her hairpin for her, then turned around and sold her trust to the Empress and Emperor in exchange for a promotion and wealth. The family who once promised to protect her watched helplessly as she was banished to the Cold Palace, all to keep their clan safe.
In the Cold Palace, spoiled food was the norm, and the palace maids and eunuchs humiliated her at will. Shen Weiwan curled up in a threadbare quilt and cried until dawn before she finally understood: being pampered was a death sentence in the imperial harem.
Until General Gu Yan, clad in black armor, came through the snow and tossed her a hand warmer. “Be my informant, and I'll keep you alive.”
Grinding her teeth, she agreed. From then on, she hid her tears and concealed her sharp edge:
- When the Empress poisoned her, she turned the poison against her, making the favored concubine take the fall.
- When the eunuchs withheld supplies, she took the matter before the Emperor and made sure they paid dearly.
- Xiao Jingyan regretted his actions and begged to get back together? She watched with a smile as he became a prisoner.
- Gu Yan offered her the jade token of the clan head and promised to make her his consort? She pushed open the palace gates. “I don't want your power.”
From a pawn at everyone else's mercy to a player who could stir the winds of change, Shen Weiwan learned through blood and tears: there is no true affection in the inner palace. If you want to live, you have to be more ruthless than anyone else!
