A Caged Sparrow in the Ashen Palace!

In the twenty-seventh year of Yong'an, the entire Zhen Guo Duke's household was massacred. Empress Shen Qingyan was given poisoned wine, accused of treason and collusion with the enemy. The man who had personally pushed the Shen family into the abyss was none other than her husband of three years, Xiao Che, the emperor himself.

On a snowy night in the Cold Palace, her cousin Xie Heng, a man she had never met, risked his life to save her. From then on, she concealed her identity and lay low for three years. She shed her finery, learned medicine and poisoncraft, and trained in strategy and martial arts. The once-gentle empress became a blade of vengeance.

Three years later, she reentered the palace as Su Qing, a lonely girl from Jiangnan, after the selection of consorts was reopened. The desolation of Suiyu Pavilion, Noble Consort Liu's harassment, and Xiao Che's probing were all pieces in her game. She moved cautiously, using others' strength against them, and stirred up a storm amid the palace's deadly power struggles.

As the truth gradually came to light, she discovered that an even more shocking secret lay behind the Shen family's wrongful case. And the cousin who had silently protected her was far more than he seemed.

The palace was a prison, and people's hearts were like demons. With blood for ink and hatred for a blade, she swore to make every enemy pay in blood!