Xie Zhaoning had been empress, and once believed that the years she and Ji Chengjing had endured together would secure the Xie family a safe place in the new dynasty. She married the least favored of the seventh princes and stood by him through the hardest years of his struggle for the throne. The Xie family's money kept his advisors fed, its soldiers put down rebellions, and she courted the great clans and won over court officials, until at last she watched him ascend the throne.
But in the third year of his reign, all seventy-three members of the Xie family were condemned for treason. Her father was imprisoned, her elder brother died on the border, and her mother took her own life. She was stripped of her title as empress, and what awaited her was not a chance to defend herself face-to-face, but a cup of poisoned wine delivered to Fengyi Palace.
When she opened her eyes again, she had returned to the age of nineteen.
That year, the Xie family was still intact, and her father and brothers were all alive. The man who would one day stand high above everyone else was still a fallen prince, waiting for the Xie family to back him.
Everyone assumed Xie Zhaoning would choose someone more deserving of her support. But in this life, she had no intention of putting any man on the throne.
The unfavored prince wanted the throne, so she would use his name to enter the game. A scholar from a humble family wanted to break the power of the great clans, so she would give him a path to the top. A border general wanted to protect his soldiers, so she would fight for provisions and military authority on his behalf. The most dangerous blade in the Imperial City Bureau wanted revenge for his family's slaughter, so she would help him find the killer.
They thought they were forming alliances with Xie Zhaoning. Only later did they realize she had never intended to become anyone's empress.
She could give them everything they wanted. She wanted only one thing.
The realm.
In her previous life, she helped a man ascend the throne. In this life, she would put herself on it.
Very nice, I like it like this style