After Killing Her Brother, the Empress Ascended the Throne

Please, I'm begging you to add this to your collection!

Fake: ambitious prince heroine x True: future Eunuch of the Eastern Depot heartthrob male lead

Nan Wei is a prince, the kind who grew up in the Cold Palace.

At fifteen, in pursuit of her life's ambitions, she sneaks out to a brothel dressed as a eunuch, and happens to run into the godson of the most powerful corrupt eunuch in the Great Wei dynasty.

But that's no big deal. The Ninth Prince, Nan Wei, who grew up in the Cold Palace, is biologically female. On the day of the Qixi Festival, she appears in heavy makeup at the largest pleasure house in the capital, wins the top prize, and leaves behind an unsolved mystery as she walks away.

Because of that mystery, Yu Huan, Eunuch Hong's most capable godson, receives an unprecedented twenty strokes of the cane. The day after his beating, he happens to run into Nan Wei, who has just left the Imperial Study.

The place where he was beaten still aches, but Yu Huan kneels and salutes without changing his expression, missing the meaningful smile at the corner of Nan Wei's mouth.

"Neither of us is in a good position. You won't gain much by backing someone who's already thriving. Why not invest in my cold stove instead?" Nan Wei stands to one side at the banquet celebrating Prince Chen's founding of his household, her voice playful and teasing.

"My position is better than Your Highness's." Yu Huan, now a junior official in the Directorate of Ceremonial, lowers his eyes and speaks with infuriating composure.

"Get lost..."

"This servant takes her leave."

You really don't have to obey me that literally.

"She is the most honored Crown Princess. The Crown Prince ascended the throne, but she did not become empress, simply because she learned the secret that the emperor was impotent..." A gentle-looking woman grits her teeth and writes furiously with a long, slender charcoal pencil.

Meanwhile, Nan Wei holds a stack of collected manuscripts and solemnly instructs a young maid:

"Tell Lady Li that if the winter charcoal and quilts don't arrive, my mother will be so cold she'll have to stop updating. Let her think carefully about what to do."

One-on-one romance. The male lead is strong, and the female lead is even stronger, but both grow over time.

Theme: Those who win the people's hearts win the realm.