Princess Zhaoning grew up in the Cold Palace. Everything she knew about her father, the dynasty, and the world came from fragments of gossip drifting over the palace walls. She entered the cycle of reincarnation carrying those prejudices, believing she was saving a decaying dynasty and an incompetent father.
Nine cycles, nine sacrifices, from her right hand to her memories. Every failure peeled away another layer of lies. The truth she eventually uncovered was the exact opposite of what she had believed at first:
The tyrant she imagined was a diligent ruler who slept only two hours a day and reviewed memorials until his fingers were misshapen.
The treacherous minister she imagined was the only person secretly transporting grain to the frontier army.
The natural disaster she imagined was a humanitarian catastrophe engineered by powerful clans withholding disaster relief grain.
The father she thought did not love her called her by name in his final moments.
This is an ode to those who fail. A tragedy.
Theme: Knowing something cannot be done, yet doing it anyway.
