For three years, she had been his stand-in, managing his household and affairs and handling social obligations, all for the reward of hearing, “Know your place.”
Then the northern frontier was in danger, and no one dared answer the call to fight. Gu Zhaohua removed her hairpins and went to the palace to volunteer. Only then did the court learn that the meek shadow in the Prince Regent’s manor was none other than the “Jade-Faced Rakshasa,” once feared by every soldier in the northern army.
She survived against all odds and returned victorious. At the victory banquet, the tipsy Prince Regent took her wrist and called her “A Yue.”
She pulled her hand away in front of everyone, her smile distant. “Your Highness has mistaken me for someone else. Your A Yue died on that snowy night long ago.”
On the palace steps, the young emperor held out his hand to her. “Empress, come stand by my side.”
The realm as his betrothal gift, the phoenix crown upon her head. From then on, she would be no one’s shadow. She would be her own light.
