I Became a Doglike Servant in Empresses in the Palace

What's it like to be a sacrificial pawn in a palace-intrigue story?

A sacrificial pawn is someone deliberately lured in, given instructions, and trained to appear at a crucial moment, only to be caught and made to shoulder all the blame before being ruthlessly disposed of.

"May we meet morning and night, like these rings entwined." Yixiu stretches out her hand and laments the promise they made long ago, only to hear that man call her "a snake behind a Buddha's smile."

"This is the Fragrance of Joy that His Majesty bestowed upon me alone." Hualan, once so proud, ends up dying by smashing her head against a wall.

"There is no woman in the world who doesn't hope to grow old alongside her husband. I am no exception." Huanhuan may have become a beloved concubine, but she has also lost the husband who once stood by her side.

"I never dared hope we would be perfectly matched, but I did hope he would trust me and show me some affection..." What Meizhuang gets instead is house arrest, with no love and no mercy.

Behind the palace's red walls, each of them has her own sorrow. How tragic, how worthy of pity. You clench your fists and think: if you were given the chance to transmigrate, you'd change it all...

Next story: The Son of Imperial Consort Rong in the Qing Dynasty

Blurb:

Three times! Every time, he transmigrates into the son of the Ma Jia clan! His comings and goings leave her trapped beneath a cloud of rumors, with the gossipy old women buzzing all day long.

Gossipy old woman Hui Fei: One child dies after another. She must be cursed!

Gossipy old woman Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang: Don't let Ma Jia leave her quarters again. She can stay in her Zhongcui Palace.

Gossipy old man Kangxi: The princes who are named after her children all die young. What bad luck!

Gossipy old women, the imperial consorts: Don't go to Zhongcui Palace. That place is terribly unlucky! Several children have died there!

Changsheng is furious. He's going to survive and bring honor to his mother, and show those gossipy old women what for!

At seven, Changsheng follows a secret envoy to spy on the northwest. At ten, he campaigns in the northeast, defeats Yaksa, and recovers Nibuchu. At twelve, he sweeps through the western steppe and kills Galdan. After that, he invents and creates, establishes a new school of learning, spreads its teachings, safeguards Chinese civilization, and achieves everlasting greatness!

Thesis: You're neither a sacrificial pawn nor a servile dog.