The Eastern Depot's Yan Wang: Secretly Keeping the Empress Dowager

Pei Qianye, the Eastern Depot’s powerful governor, holds the court in his grip and has slaughtered countless people. They call him the Living Yama. On the day the new emperor ascends the throne, he surrounds the Golden Throne Hall with his troops. The officials kneel in silence, all convinced he means to force the emperor from the throne and seize power. Instead, before the entire court, he raises a cup of poisoned wine to the lips of Empress Dowager Shen Yuan.

“The empress dowager’s throne should be mine now.” He bends to whisper in her ear, his voice as sinuous as a snake.

Shen Yuan tips back the cup and collapses as the poison takes hold.

The court erupts in shock, and the new emperor flies into a rage. Pei Qianye leaves with a smile. That night, a prison cart slips quietly into the Eastern Depot’s dungeon. Shackled inside is the empress dowager, who supposedly died that day.

Everyone knows the governor hates her to the bone. Seven years ago, she personally sent him to the Eastern Depot and had him castrated. But no one knows that the year Shen Yuan entered the palace as empress, Pei Qianye was the youngest covert guard under her father’s command. Beneath the moon, he once knelt and swore, “This subordinate’s life belongs to you, My Lady.”

In the lightless dungeon, he grips her chin, madness clear in his eyes. “Your Highness, it’s been seven years. Did you think death could help you escape me?”

Shen Yuan sneers and pulls out a hairpin, pressing it to his throat. “Pei Qianye, do you really think I don’t know you were never castrated?”

Powerful ministers circle outside, while a mad hound holds a phoenix captive within. Two people who should have been trying to kill each other are chained in the same abyss. Whoever falls first will be doomed forever.

And this empire is far more complicated than either of them imagined.