The Scriptwriter for a Murder Mystery Becomes a Palace Harem Substitute

Su Xun, a leading writer of immersive murder-mystery games, wakes up in a palace-intrigue novel as the substitute consort whom a tyrant abducts because she looks like his beloved woman. According to the original plot, she will be tormented in body and soul for “never truly being her,” and meet a tragic end. Su Xun realizes that the tyrant, the empress, the favored concubines, the powerful eunuchs... everyone behaves according to the familiar logic of characters in a murder-mystery game.

She decides to ignore the romance plot and treat the imperial harem as one giant immersive murder-mystery game:

Analyze the character scripts: infer each key figure’s “core motivation,” whether power, revenge, family, or obsessive love, as well as their “hidden objectives.”

Distribute clues: carefully arrange for clues, such as keepsakes, rumors, and half-true secrets that might lead others to suspect, fight, or cooperate with one another, to “naturally” reach specific characters.

Advance the plot: her goal is to trigger the “hidden ending.” For example, make the tyrant realize he loves an illusion rather than a real person, make the empress turn against her family, or help the powerful eunuch find the true target of his revenge.

She thinks she is just the writer, unaware that she has already become the most inscrutable “mastermind” in the eyes of all the “players.”