On the day I was demoted to the cold palace, the aunt in charge threw me outside the hall of the mad prince Xiao Xuance.
Everyone said he was crazy and would tear the people who served him alive.
The body of the previous palace maid had been cold for less than an hour.
But I saw that his body was covered in filth, but there was no trace of dust between his fingernails; I saw salivating at the corner of his mouth, but his eyes were like a wolf hiding in the dark, scrutinizing every prey that stepped into his territory.
Sure enough, he grabbed my neck, pressed me against the cold wall, and asked me in a hoarse voice how I wanted to die.
The strong smell of blood mixed with the rotten smell on his body hit his face.
Instead of struggling, I smiled, opened his steely fingers, and said in his ear in a voice that only the two of us could hear:
"Your Highness, stop pretending. Do you want to be the emperor? I'll help you."
His pair of cloudy eyes that had been pretending to be cloudy for three years suddenly became as clear as a sword.
Later, I became his only counselor, using my identity as a slave girl to pave a bloody road to the throne for him.
