Ashen Palace: Three Thousand Years of Tears from the Imperial Consort

She has barely entered the palace and performed the dance “Phoenix Perched in the Parasol Tree” when the Imperial Consort accuses her of stealing a phoenix hairpin. The emperor, Ye Chenyuan, glances at her coldly. “Drag her away and grant her a white silk sash!” He doesn't know this is the 3,000th fatal ending in a cycle spanning three thousand years. Her childhood sweetheart, the top scholar, deceives her into passing along false intelligence, causing a hundred thousand soldiers to die in battle. The venomous Imperial Consort uses the prince's wet nurse as leverage to force her to drink an abortion potion, then sends her loyal servant to be fed to poisonous snakes. Only when the Wangchuan jade grows hot does she see the truth of her previous 2,999 lives: in every life, she died in the arms of the person she loved most. He is the son of the Heavenly Emperor, and she is the princess of Qingqiu. Their reincarnations are part of a test planned over three thousand years. Her father is stabbed to death protecting her, and Mo Yuan's evil clone wants to refine her bloodline to achieve immortality. When she seeks revenge with Qingqiu's spiritual power, she discovers that breaking the curse requires a sacrifice. As the bloodied Ye Chenyuan presses a knife into her hand and says, “This time, let me die,” should she break the cycle or gamble on a love that lasts through lifetimes?

What did Xiao Che mean when he said, “My empire has always been defended for you alone”? Was it a long-delayed declaration of love, or another plot to take her life?