Can You Recommend the Ultimate Palace-Intrigue Story? Nothing with Sweet Romance or Undivided Devotion

Looking for books similar to The Wise Don’t Fall in Love, So the Empress Crosses the Bridge After Burning It. No perfectly devoted couples, please! They're fighting for power in the palace, so how could they be perfectly faithful to each other? Same goes for having one character dote exclusively on the other; that's basically impossible. I just want a story about clever people fully focused on palace intrigue! I've been looking for ages, and this type seems hard to find.