The Phoenix Rises at Court

I was the most overlooked princess in the dynasty.

My father treated me like a chess piece, and my sisters bullied me because I had no one to rely on.

When I came of age, they tried to marry me off to a sixty-year-old general.

I tore up my wedding dress and cut off my hair before the court: “I would die for my country, but I will never debase myself.”

For ten years in the cold palace, I used my blood as ink to secretly weave my wings.

My father died, the princes fought for the throne, and the realm teetered on the brink of collapse.

I led the cavalry of women I had secretly recruited out of the capital.

I crushed three rebel armies and brought the refugees of the northern frontier under my command.

On the day they placed the imperial robes on my shoulders, I lifted the beaded curtain of the crown:

“My realm needs no prince consort. It needs only its people.”^ _ ^^ _ ^(^_^)^ _ ^^ _ ^^ _ ^^ _ ^