After the Political Marriage, the Cold Empress Spoiled Me to Heaven

[Cool and aloof empress VS sweet on the outside, scheming concubine-born young woman] [One-on-one] [Exclusive devotion] [Palace intrigue + political schemes] Everyone knew that Empress Zhuang was cold and desireless, decisive and ruthless, a lone flake of snow high above the world, untouchable. Then she met the concubine-born woman sent to the palace as a bride, and every rule could be broken. The entire harem was in an uproar: Had the empress gone mad? Dai Sugui was a concubine-born young woman sent by a vassal state to marry into the imperial family. She had no maternal clan, no favor, and no rank. On her first day in the palace, the Noble Consort slapped her in front of everyone. As she knelt in the muddy water, a cold voice sounded above her: “Raise your head.” She looked up and saw the most exalted woman in the dynasty: Zhuang Lingjiang. Everyone thought Dai Sugui would meet a terrible end. Instead, the empress wiped the mud from her face with a handkerchief. “Do you want to live?” “Yes.” “Then live for me.” From that day on... The Noble Consort cut her allowance? The empress made it up tenfold and docked the Noble Consort's pay for half a year. A Consort humiliated her in public? The empress slapped her outright. “She's my person. You have no right to teach her a lesson.” The emperor tried to interfere? The empress sneered. “There's no need for Your Majesty to concern yourself with affairs of the harem.” Everyone said the empress had raised a tame little canary. But no one knew... This “canary” sorted confidential reports from the court for the empress every night. This “canary” used a game of chess to turn the Noble Consort's trusted aide against her. When the empress was poisoned, this “canary” tested the medicine herself, then shoved the poisoned wine back into the culprit's mouth. Then, on the night of the coup, the empress took three arrows meant for her. The woman rose from the dust, covered in blood, and stood before the empress with a sword in hand. “Touch her, and I'll make sure every last one of you is buried with her.” Only then did the officials across the court see the truth. There was no canary. She was a wolf the empress had raised with her own hands. The empress broke the rules for her, and she became a demon for the empress.