Reborn as a Commoner Daughter: The Ninth Duke Who Killed Me Has Gone Mad

[Tags: Political Intrigue and Domestic Power Struggles | Strong Female Lead | Not a Sweet Romance. Every Character Is Wicked, and Both Leads Have a Dark Side. No Whitewashing.]

In her previous life, she was the daughter of a great general who guarded the nation. She later became empress dowager, wielding the power of the state and making decisions about the affairs of the court from behind the scenes.

After a lifetime of political intrigue, she had long since grown tired of it. She chose to drink poison and withdraw from the chess game of the mortal world.

In an instant, her soul returned, and she became Bai Mianqing, an overlooked concubine-born daughter of the Duke's residence.

In her previous life, she had been the mastermind pulling the strings behind the court, a woman of great intelligence who nevertheless fell into the trap of hypocrisy set by those closest to her.

A carefully plotted calamity left her dead and disgraced, while all her life's schemes paved the way for someone else.

Given a second life, she no longer trusted kindness or yearned for romance.

Her sisters in the inner residence hid blades behind their masks, used incense to set their trap, and stirred up a swarm of bees to disrupt the banquet, seeking to kill her.

The player she had once trained with her own hands now stood among the enemy. Through the chaos, the two gazed at each other from afar, their undercurrents of conflict clashing.

The domestic power struggle was only the prelude. The court was where it would all end.

Her confidence came from the composure she had cultivated by sitting on the throne of empress dowager in her previous life. She had seen what power looked like and knew how hypocritical people could be. She had returned for herself alone.

She climbed upward not to escape the depths and rush into someone else's arms, but because she herself refused to fall back into the abyss.

She seeks no worthy man and asks for no protection. In this game of chess, she will decide the victor with her own hands.