Everyone says the new emperor, Fu Tingchen, hates me. He fed me a potion that would leave me barren with his own hands, sent me into enemy territory, and watched as I conceived another man’s child. Only when I died before his eyes did he discover the bloodstained letter hidden in my sleeve: “I, your consort, am willing to give my broken body to pave the way for Your Majesty to restore the kingdom.” But he never knew what I truly wanted to write next: “If there is another life, I will never marry into the imperial family again.”
