A Chronicle of a King and Queen Who Can't Stand Each Other

• A Love Like Their Parents'

• A Couple Who Fight on the Same Side

• A Middle-Aged Couple Who Can't Stand Each Other

• A Fearsome Lord and His Bewitching Empress

The empress is spoiled and domineering, and there are no other consorts in the six palaces. The emperor and empress have always been deeply devoted to each other, a couple fit for the immortals. In eighteen years, they have had three sons and two daughters.

The ancestors of the Northern Dynasty followed Emperor Wu of Han's example: when he named a crown prince, he had the boy's mother, Consort Gouyi, put to death. They established the ancestral rule that when a son was named crown prince, his mother must die, to prevent women from seizing power and their families from dominating the court.

Once the rule was set, every generation followed it.

That is, until the partial Emperor Wei Qing made an exception for his empress, Li Zhu. When their eldest son was born, Li Zhu emerged completely unharmed. When he was named crown prince, she still came through unscathed.

Who could have imagined that after returning victorious from battle, the emperor would be ambushed and shot with an arrow on his way home, leaving his life in danger in middle age? With the mother strong and the son still young, the matter could no longer be delayed. The old ministers urged him to put the immoral enchantress, Empress Li Zhu, to death as soon as possible. As he lay in bed recovering, a young palace maid reported through the curtain:

“The empress left the door open for someone late at night, with just one colored-glass lamp lit. The man who went inside... was the crown prince, Xiao.”

The gravely ill Wei Qing hurled a memorial to the ground. “How disgraceful!”

That was his own son! The emperor was so furious he coughed up blood. Before long, he was beyond saving. He issued an edict ordering her to follow him in death, granting her a white silk sash with which to hang herself.

She raised her head, entirely unapologetic. “If I die and Your Majesty survives, won't I have lost out terribly?”

She tried every trick in the book, wheedling and throwing tantrums, but he would not budge an inch.

Then she cursed him out. “You old fool! It's all because you're so short-lived that you've dragged me down with you.”

Even that wasn't enough. She threatened and bribed him: “Tonight, I'll stand right here and see if Your Majesty dares issue that edict. If you do, I'll strangle you!”

Crude and unscrupulous, the woman tried to anger him to death before he could issue the edict. So she confessed that during the year he was away at war, she had taken a male lover to ease her loneliness and spent her nights longing for him.

To her surprise, she angered him back to life.

When he stood before her again, she only blinked. “I knew Your Majesty loved me most. You won't hold it against me.”

Content warning: The heroine is 31, and the hero is 34. They already have five children at the start, and won't have any more later. Everyone is a complete lunatic, and their mental state is far from normal.

*The heroine is not chaste, but the hero is.

[Special thanks to @I Also Can't See Who's On That Lake for commissioning the character art, which can be viewed on the character profile.]

Theme: Cherish the person by your side