When the Clouds Rise: Spring Mountains in Sight

A concubine enters the palace, expecting to become a favored consort. Only later does she discover that the emperor is playing a game of chess, and she is meant to be the one who flips the board. The Yun family of Jinan has an unwritten rule: their only daughter must be cherished like the apple of their eye. Yun Ruowu is that precious daughter. So what if she was born to a concubine? Her father and brothers doted on her, her stepmother indulged her, and for sixteen years, there was nothing she couldn't get if she wanted it. Until an imperial edict summoning candidates for the selection sent her into the palace. The emperor was young, nothing like the white-haired old man in the books. He furrowed his brow when reviewing memorials and smiled when he listened to her play the pipa. She thought he was the best husband in the world. But the palace was nothing like Jinan. The Empress had a knife hidden in her gaze, and the winds of the imperial harem never stopped blowing. Here, her spoiled ways weren't endearing, they were ammunition for her enemies. Her sincerity wasn't a virtue, it was a weakness. It took one collision with a wall, then another, then a third, before she understood: In this deep palace, no one was innocent. Including her.