She was the most unlikely empress.
While the other consorts competed for favor, she examined corpses in the cold palace.
While the other women fought in the palace, she solved cases at court.
Shen Chaoge had three secrets:
First, she was a forensic doctor who had transmigrated, and everyone looked like a corpse to her.
Second, the emperor had married her so he could use her as a weapon to eliminate powerful officials. She pretended not to know, and added him to her “to be dissected” list as well.
Third, her “fallen in battle” father might still be alive, imprisoned in a poisonous den in Miao territory, and the culprit was sitting at the same banquet as her.
“Your Highness, the Noble Consort says you’re having an affair with another man!”
She tossed out a bloodstained ledger. “These are the records of her father smuggling weapons to the Northern Frontier. Take them to the Court of Judicial Review and tell them I’m accusing her of treason.”
“Your Highness, the Worthy Consort found a voodoo doll in your chambers!”
She brought out the real doll, cut open its belly, and shook out a secret letter. “These are letters between her and an enemy state. Oh, and there’s a plan to assassinate the emperor, too.”
The emperor knocked on her door late at night. “Chaoge, I can give you everything you want.”
She pressed a silver needle to his throat. “Then I want the 80,000 Shen family troops cleared of blame, and every culprit from back then put to death. Your Majesty, can you give me that?”
When the truth came to light, the man on the dragon throne personally draped armor over her shoulders.
“Go do what you want. You and I will shoulder this empire together.”
She ran her hand over the phoenix pattern on the armor and smiled.
“You’re wrong, Your Majesty.”
“What I want has never been to shoulder this empire with you...”
“I want this empire to remember the name of the Shen family.”
