[No romance, all-female cast]+ [Empress arc]+ [Two women’s political intrigue]+ [No cheat abilities]
In her previous life, Shen Luan, the legitimate daughter of the marquis’s household, believed in the regent’s “deep love” and paid for it with her mother’s clan wiped out and poisoned wine in her throat. The concubine-born Shen Qing became a pawn in her father’s bid for power, then died of illness in a ruined temple, her body torn apart by wild dogs.
When they open their eyes again, both have been reborn on the day they fell into the icy pool at the age of thirteen. Beneath the pool, there is no life-or-death feud from their previous life, only a moment of clear-eyed understanding and an alliance that will last a lifetime: “If the Shen family falls, we’ll both be nothing but bones!”
From then on, the inner-household rivalry comes to an abrupt end, and a game of power that will overturn the realm begins.
Shen Luan, the legitimate daughter: She travels to the northwest and takes up the mantle of the nation’s guardian general once more. She recruits hidden guards and cuts off the regent’s supply lines, using an iron hand to shatter Xiao Changyuan’s “imperial destiny.” Shen Qing, the concubine-born daughter: She fakes her death to escape and disguises herself as a man, rising to power in the imperial court. From the heights of the court, she personally strips away her birth father Shen Kaiyue’s false front as a usurper and sends him to the executioner’s block.
When Xiao Changyuan tries his tender trap again, Shen Luan points her sword at his throat: “In this life, I want your kingdom, and I want your life!” When Shen Kaiyue tries to bind her with appeals to family and filial duty, Shen Qing sets down her brush: “Father, the blood of the Shen family’s nine branches will be my parting gift to you.”
The two women join forces, rejecting romance and breaking free of their shackles. Every character is brilliantly clever, and life-and-death reversals follow one after another. They will no longer be anyone’s pawns. They will be the masters of these ten thousand miles of mountains and rivers!
“An empress to rule, a woman chancellor to devise strategy: this golden age will finally be as we wished.”
The two women join forces, rejecting romance and breaking free of their shackles. They are no one’s pawns. They will be the masters of this realm.
