Empress Mingzhen

Once, the second young lady of the Xie family was its most useless oddball.

When she was little, her mother was left in poor health after giving birth to her, while she herself was so frail that it was uncertain whether she would even grow up safely.

At three, her father was posted away as an official. Her mother could not leave the capital with him because she had to care for her, so her father took a favored concubine while away. Her mother wept every day, her mind deteriorating by the day.

At six, her health had improved somewhat. Her mother entrusted her to her grandmother's care, then left the capital in a carriage one early morning. It was the first time in her life she tasted abandonment.

At seven, she learned she had a younger brother by birth. After that, she did not see her mother again for five whole years.

At ten, her father returned to the capital with his family to report on his work. She shut herself in her room all day and refused to see anyone.

At twelve, her mother brought her brother back to the capital to attend her maternal grandmother's birthday celebration. Though the wound in her heart would never truly heal, she began trying to understand her mother.

At thirteen, she attended a New Year's Eve palace banquet and discovered that the man she had secretly watched out of curiosity at an earlier banquet had become the new emperor.

At fifteen, she thought she would spend the rest of her life following the same dull routine, but a turn of events in court unexpectedly handed her cousin's position as empress to her.

At sixteen, she became the emperor's second empress. Yet she knew she was still just an insignificant pawn, one who could be replaced at any time.

But she was not willing to remain a pawn. Once on a fierce chessboard, who said she could not become a player?

The former court, the harem, even the realm itself: the weak are pieces, while the strong move them. And she happened to have the patience and courage to face any opponent.