Poisonous Fragrance

In the third year of Yongchang under the Great Zhou, the Seventh Prince, Pei Yan, was banished to the Yunzhou frontier. On the surface, he was a disgraced official assigned to guard the imperial tombs. In secret, however, he was investigating the shocking murder case of the Empress Dowager poisoning the Immortal Emperor. Three years later, he used an excuse to return to the capital, only to find that every ally he had once had had betrayed him. The only one who still remembered him was someone who should not have existed: Shen Qingci, daughter of the youngest Grand Tutor in the court. Poisoned and at death's door, she held the only clue to the mission from the night his entire family was wiped out. In the imperial city, crawling with spies, the two passed messages using a box of poisoned face powder, gradually uncovering a secret buried deep within the imperial harem. The late emperor's final decree had never named the current ruler as his successor. It had named an official from the Empress Dowager's palace. That official now sat on the throne. 2