Has His Majesty Been Cremated Yet?

Some of the characters feel out of character... so I can't keep writing for now. I may not write an angsty "crematorium" story after all. I'll put this on hold for the time being and revise it when inspiration strikes.

[Self-deluding, fickle, narcissistic emperor vs. clever, resilient noblewoman]

Huaining never imagined that Qi Jiayin would deceive her.

Their wedding was a grand spectacle, watched by all. At the banquet, he openly held her around the waist as he toasted and celebrated with his subordinates. At court, he joined forces with her father and brothers to wipe out his political enemies, deftly maneuvering through the cutthroat struggle for power.

She had thought that once they reached the pinnacle of power, he would give her the honor and prestige she deserved, just as he had promised, cherish her, and ensure that their love and favor endured.

But when he received the imperial edict of abdication, it was a woman of the Zheng family whom he made empress.

Qi Jiayin stood with his hands behind his back on the glazed steps, looking down at her from on high.

"Your family is honored, and your father and brothers have risen in rank. Huaining, what do you have to complain about?"

Huaining laughed. Yes, how had she never realized that all these years, he had only seemed passionate on the surface? In private, he had treated their marriage as nothing more than a political bargaining chip. So the woman of the Zheng family was the cinnabar mole in his heart after all. Yet when she begged him to let her go, he grabbed her by the throat, his expression sinister.

"If that were true, would your father and brothers really serve me loyally?"

Huaining could bear it no longer. In the midst of a raging fire, she "died" in the autumn frost of the imperial palace.

*

Qi Jiayin was arrogant. Huaining was nothing more than a pawn he had used to win over the aristocratic clans. Even when news of her death reached him, he finished his work as usual before going to the ruins, now reduced to utter devastation.

But after her funeral, her tearful, pitiful eyes began appearing in his dreams.

The following year, amid the vast river mist, Qi Jiayin got drunk. Mistaking her for a goddess who had suddenly appeared, he pulled her tightly into his arms.

"A Ning, I regret it. Come back to the palace with me. I'll make you empress now."

But the figure crumbled away. When he looked again, Huaining was holding the hand of a babbling child, smiling as she straightened another man's lapel.

Note: Both leads are each other's first and only. The dynasty is fictional, and the male lead has something wrong with his head. Also, I want to start from when the heroine is clear-eyed, so this isn't a fake-death story. It starts in the year after her death. But it is a "crematorium" story!! The male lead will definitely end up in the "crematorium," crematorium, crematorium...

Theme: Keep striving and never give up.