The Eastern Palace Daily Record

The Sage is pregnant, and may be giving birth to a prince. Undercurrents stir in the court, wolves circle, and the Crown Princess's position as heir is in grave danger.

At the women's imperial examinations in spring, someone places first in all three rounds and enters the Hanlin Academy. This female official is learned, ambitious, and ruthless in her methods, like a lone wolf, ferocious and savage, feeding on human flesh and blood. Yet on a rainy night, she comes alone to offer counsel to the Crown Princess, who is walking on thin ice.

A rhinoceros-horn-handled horsetail whisk lifts her humbly lowered chin. She obediently raises her face a little, daring to meet eyes as clear and cold as ice and snow.

The Crown Princess has only recently awakened from a long sleep. She stares at her for a while, then asks hoarsely, "Is today the twenty-sixth day of the third month?"

She answers yes.

The Crown Princess slowly closes her eyes. Her jade-like hand clenches beneath the gauze curtain.

On the twenty-sixth day of the third month of the twenty-seventh year of Yongguang, I am still the heir to the Eastern Palace, second only to one person. I have not been deposed or imprisoned, and you have not made a desperate move that ends in failure and costs you your life. Spring is in its prime. I hope there is still time to change everything.

The second time I crawled out of the mass grave, the second time I fell naked in front of a carriage of gold and jade, the second time I saw those eyes, deep as autumn water.

I am certain she is the supporting female character in my book who meets a tragic end. This time, I won't let her die. I want her to live well, even if the person she loves is someone else... Actually, she might as well die.

A resourceful, compassionate Crown Princess x a ruthless female official who has done every imaginable evil

| Both are reborn, and the female official also has the transmigrate-into-a-book advantage

| The older one is the pursuer

| Title undecided, character names not chosen

Theme: Making your own food