The Realm in Her Hands: The Side Consort’s Plot for the Throne

[Historical romance, both leads have no other partners + clear-headed, self-interested and ruthless heroine + the hero has only the heroine in his household from beginning to end + happy ending]

Content warning: The heroine loves the hero, but an ancient emperor's heart is hard to fathom. She will indirectly bring about the hero's death and ascend the throne herself.

Shen Shuying, a high school student, is born into the body of an illegitimate daughter of a junior minister at the Court of Judicial Review. Her mother dies in childbirth, leaving behind a pair of twin younger brothers.

She spends sixteen years carefully keeping her head down in the inner quarters. Her brothers need a powerful patron to secure their futures, so she plans to marry into a family that can support them.

Just then, the royal family begins selecting consorts for its princes. After much consideration, Shen Shuying sets her sights on the Fifth Prince, Prince of Chu, Xie Yunsui.

Xie Yunsui's household is free of other women. He is a man of noble character, commands troops, and maintains only a relationship between sovereign and subject with the emperor.

Things go as she hoped: she is appointed Prince of Chu's secondary consort, and a month after the wedding she accompanies him to the border to wage war.

At home, Shen Shuying plays the role of a considerate wife, managing the household's daily affairs. When Xie Yunsui occasionally returns, she plays music and dances, attentive and considerate, a warm and caring companion to her husband.

Outside the home, she looks after the soldiers and often uses her own dowry to supplement the army's food supplies.

In her spare time, she reads the classics and histories, occasionally sharing her opinions and easing Xie Yunsui's burdens.

At the border, Shen Shuying is the celebrated Consort Shen.

Xie Yunsui, fifth son of Emperor Yuanzhao.

His mother died when he was young, and he was raised under the virtuous consort's care. He was not abused and had enough to eat and wear. With his own formidable abilities, he established himself in the army.

In the twentieth year of the Yuanzhao era, Xie Yunsui was ordered back to the capital to choose a principal consort. He picked a woman who caught his eye, never imagining she seemed tailor-made for him by the Red Luan Immortal. He lost his heart to her.

From then on, he would spend the years by her side.