The Concubine’s Scheme: The Deposed Empress Returns to Turn the Court Upside Down

Flames soared into the sky, staining half the night red.

Amid the broken walls and ruins, the Cold Palace had long since become a living hell.

Charred wood crackled and burst, while thick smoke rolled like black serpents coiling across the sky.

The flames licked at bodies that had yet to cool. A woman dressed in a phoenix robe had been carelessly tossed atop the pyre. Only half of the phoenix embroidered in gold thread remained intact; the rest had been devoured by the flames and charred black at the edges.

Her hair was scorched and brittle as dry grass. The flesh on her left cheek had peeled back, exposing the stark white bone beneath. Her breathing was so faint it was almost impossible to detect.