Gu Lingyi only realized the truth when she died in her previous life: the Gu family had never been the Crown Prince's trusted allies. They were pawns he had prepared to sacrifice long ago.
Her father and brothers secured military provisions for the Crown Prince, delivered secret messages, and took the blame. In the end, instead of a rescue from the Eastern Palace, they received an imperial edict ordering their home confiscated. The entire family was exiled, her mother died of illness on the way, her brother's legs were broken, and Gu Lingyi died on a snowy road at a relay station.
When she opened her eyes again, she had returned to the night before the family was ruined.
Everyone in the household was still waiting for a reply from the Crown Prince. Her father still believed the heir to the throne was benevolent, and her brother was preparing to take the fall for a fabricated military report. Gu Lingyi burned the Eastern Palace's secret letter, took the real evidence, and slipped into the Court of Judicial Review in the dead of night.
Everyone thought she had gone mad.
Only Xie Wujiu, the Court of Judicial Review's chief justice, asked her after examining the evidence, “Do you realize that once you present this, the Gu family will never be able to return to the Eastern Palace?”
Gu Lingyi replied, “That's exactly what I want.”
In this life, she would no longer be the Crown Prince's blade, nor wait for anyone to save her. She would protect the Gu family first, then reopen the old case. She would clip the Crown Prince's wings, then personally drag that heir, seated high in the Eastern Palace and preaching benevolence, from his altar.
The court was a chessboard, and everyone held a piece.
But in this game, Gu Lingyi was determined to stop being a piece and become the one who moved them.
