[The Empress Dowager has her back + clear-eyed villainess + the emperor falls hard + taming the emperor step by step + unrivaled favor in the palace + happy ending]
Shen Lingyi is the Empress Dowager’s own niece, a noble young lady born to the main branch of the Shen family.
On the night before she enters the palace, the Empress Dowager personally tells her where to draw the line: “You need not put up with anything in the palace. I’ll always have your back.”
No one in the palace expects much of her.
The empress watches coldly from the sidelines, the Noble Consort schemes in secret, and the other consorts wait for her to grow arrogant with favor, make countless enemies, then fall from grace and into ruin.
Everyone is betting that she’ll soon lose the emperor’s favor.
But no one expects Shen Lingyi to be the only one who enters the palace boldly and openly, neither fawning nor bending, while everyone else treads carefully and curries favor with the emperor.
While others compete for favor and prestige, she keeps her head, stands her ground, and plans each move carefully.
Emperor Xiao Xuanyu is cold, heartless, and adept at weighing the costs and benefits of every decision. At first, he sees her only as brazen and overbearing, a woman unlike the rest.
But the more he sees of her, the more she captures his heart; the more he spoils her, the deeper he falls.
She doesn’t seek his favor, yet his affection comes to her all the same;
She doesn’t scheme to secure her position, yet she alone commands the emperor’s heart.
The inner palace is rocked by one plot after another, the court repeatedly impeaches her, her relatives face suspicion, and the struggle over the empress’s throne grows ever more turbulent.
Every day, the others wait for Shen Lingyi to lose favor and make a fool of herself, wait for the emperor to turn against her.
But all they get is this:
He breaks countless rules for her, stands against the court for her, and keeps the inner palace in check for her;
She rises from Consort of Glory to Consort, takes charge of the Six Palaces, and ultimately ascends to the throne of empress;
The cold-faced emperor is completely tamed by her, and for the rest of his life, amid all the realm’s vast splendor, she is the only one he cherishes.
The whole harem hopes I’ll lose favor. Sorry, but His Majesty insists on spoiling me rotten.
