My Beloved [Matriarchy]

An iron-fisted, ruthless empress x a palace attendant cast aside to the Cold Palace, blinded from crying over the empress and terminally ill

Xie Mingjin had always thought her life was smooth and uneventful, everything going her way. Whatever she wanted, all she had to do was give a look, and countless ministers and attendants would rush to bring it to her.

She found her obedient, docile servants and consorts dull. But she hardly wanted some fool to come along and defy her, either. She hated it when others went against her will or tried to change her mind.

An emperor was bound to be lonely. Xie Mingjin didn't need anyone to understand her.

That was until she met Lu Jiuxi, who had escaped from an abandoned palace.

At the time, Lu Jiuxi was blind and crippled, in a wretched state. If not for his striking face, even with a servant's reminder, Xie Mingjin might not have remembered that the man collapsed before her was the consort she had cast aside.

Lu Jiuxi tugged pitifully at her hem and begged in a voice as faint as a mosquito's, "Your Majesty, please revoke your decree and spare my family's lives. This lowly servant is willing to die in their place."

Xie Mingjin believed he deserved to be cast aside.

This was the first time Lu Jiuxi had defied her decision.

/

Later, Xie Mingjin came to believe that an emperor was inevitably beset by loneliness. She needed no one but Lu Jiuxi to understand her.

Rekindled romance / angst for the male lead / competing men

Tentatively a female-dominant society

Female lead is not a virgin; male lead is a virgin

The female lead is somewhat of a jerk in matters of love

Theme: It's not too late to come back