On the final night before the new emperor's ascension, the charcoal fire went out. Amid the bells announcing the new ruler's accession, Side Consort Yixiu breathed her last.
When she opened her eyes again, she was back in a side courtyard of Prince Yong's manor. Her son, Honghui, was only three, and people were cutting back the charcoal they received basket by basket, leaving him shivering and wheezing.
In her previous life, she had risen to the position of empress, only to be schemed against at every turn by the people she trusted most. A bowl of tonic from her elder sister, a smiling servant: together, they slowly wore her and her child to death in the palace.
Reborn in this life, she wore a meek expression, but her eyes held a blade tempered in ice.
She would reclaim the charcoal basket by basket, and settle every blood debt, one by one.
In the sprawling mansion, amid wives and concubines, legitimate and illegitimate heirs, and nine sons vying for the throne, she would protect her little one while smiling as she watched those who had once wanted her dead walk step by step into the graves they had dug for themselves.
As for the prince who would later ascend the throne? In this life, she had no interest in the empress's seat. She would personally topple both the cold imperial power and her faithless lover's heart.
She would reclaim the charcoal basket by basket, and settle every blood debt, one by one.
In the sprawling mansion, amid wives and concubines, legitimate and illegitimate heirs, and nine sons vying for the throne, she would protect her little one while smiling as she watched those who had once wanted her dead walk step by step into the graves they had dug for themselves.
As for Fourth Master, who would later ascend the throne?
In this life, she had no interest in becoming empress. She would personally topple both the cold imperial power and her faithless lover's heart.
