Everyone in the realm called her a bewitching consort who brought ruin to the nation.
From the most cherished Princess Zhaoyang of the Dingyuan Marquis household to the reviled Noble Consort Rongjia, Chu Mingyue loved Xuan Hengyun for twelve years.
The late emperor had sixteen sons, yet she chose the quiet, solitary, lowborn ninth prince at first glance.
People said she forced the emperor to depose the empress and dismiss the chancellor, throwing the court into chaos. They didn't know she did it all to help the new emperor secure his throne.
She was willing to be the sword in his hand to eliminate his allies and the blade that dismantled factional strife. Chu Mingyue did it all gladly.
Though he never thanked her, Chu Mingyue thought he must know it in his heart.
Until the empress was murdered, and every piece of evidence pointed to her.
The ministers were furious, their rage surging like waves about to swallow her. Xuan Hengyun gripped his sword hilt, and its cold gleam flashed before her eyes.
As if waking from a dream, Chu Mingyue said, "Ninth Prince Xuan, you never trusted me."
"Noble Consort, you have overstepped," the new emperor said, his gaze cold.
In that moment, Chu Mingyue let it all go. To hell with being Noble Consort Rongjia. She'd been far freer as Princess Zhaoyang, riding in red with the wind in her face.
*
The year the noble consort died, snow fell in the capital until the fourth month.
On the day the snow stopped, the new emperor suddenly went mad. He cleared her name, posthumously honored her as a virtuous empress, and the court officials wrote books praising her deeds and virtues.
But what good was any of that now?
After Noble Consort Rongjia died, the emperor, ruler of all, canceled court for a hundred days and spent every night beside her cold coffin. Only a shadowy light remained in his eyes.
*
"A Yue, Xuan knows he was wrong." Only the lonely echo answered him in the great hall.
[Reading Guide]
1. Both leads are each other's first and only. Happy ending. The male lead has a hidden personality, and his second personality holds extreme views.
2. I'm working on improving my writing. This is a typical regret-and-redemption story. If it isn't your thing, feel free to drop it.
*
Upcoming novel: The Third Year in the Cold Palace
When Su Yeqi entered the cold palace, the music for the empress's enthronement ceremony began to play.
She was the seventh adopted daughter the Su family had sent into the palace, tasked with helping them install a new puppet emperor.
The ninth prince, Xiao Chuchen, was solitary and unruly, and no suitable puppet.
She taught him to hide the sharpness in his eyes and learn to read the situation. She helped him dismantle the Crown Prince's faction and uproot the factions of all the other princes.
She spent ten years navigating the palace, where danger flowed beneath the surface and people were killed without spilling blood. At last, she helped Xiao Chuchen, who had grown up in the cold palace, ascend the throne.
He grew into a wolf with sharp claws, just as she'd promised.
And every wicked deed she had done for him became evidence of his crimes against the Su family.
She framed the Crown Prince, poisoned the empress... The officials reported that she was a wicked woman planted in the palace by the Su family, and must be executed.
She remained calm, until the decree banishing her to the cold palace was read.
Su Yeqi woke as if from a dream. "You promised that after bringing down the Su family, you'd give me my freedom."
"I spared your life. That is mercy enough," the emperor replied, his voice vast and cold.
Three years passed. The young emperor put an end to factional strife and reduced taxes and corvee labor. Under his rule, the realm flourished in peace.
But when all the clamor had died away, Xiao Chuchen realized that a splendid age of prosperity could not fill the emptiness in his heart.
In the darkness of the cold palace,
Xiao Chuchen held the gaunt woman tightly in his arms and, trembling, asked the question he'd avoided for thirteen years. "Lady Qi, did you ever love me?"
His only answer was a desolate laugh.
He understood then.
Theme: It is never too late to mend one's ways
