Purge the Court of the Emperor’s Traitors

Fu Chanyuan was born without ever having to lift a finger. Her ninth uncle served at court and helped arrange her marriage into the Eastern Palace. She became empress and lived a life of wealth and splendor.

Until a great fire reduced her prosperous dream to ashes. The emperor was gravely ill, and a powerful minister took control of the government. History recorded only that Empress Chongren bewitched the emperor and brought ruin to the nation, colluded with powerful ministers, indulged in debauchery, burned the emperor alive in the palace, and, overcome by guilt, took her own life.

But no one knew that, amid the fire that day, her sickly, beautiful emperor husband had fallen from his wooden litter and begged the treacherous ministers to spare her life, only to be run through the heart with a sword.

She plunged into the flames, and at last they were husband and wife for a lifetime.

Heaven have mercy. If they could not grow old together, then at least they could share a grave.

She never imagined that Fu Chanyuan would be reborn on the night she went to pay her respects to her ninth uncle. Back then, she had not yet married the crown prince. Only now did she learn that her mother was the emperor's sworn younger sister and the head of a secret guard organization. After her mother fell ill, the emperor had everyone at West Window silenced.

Fu Chanyuan called off the engagement. She thought, It was all wrong. Every bit of it.

Who said she could only become another man's wife? This time, she would live again for herself.

She donned a mask, led West Window, and pledged herself to the weakened crown prince, Shen Xuansu, her husband in her previous life.

-

West Window was the imperial family's secret guard, tasked with purging corrupt officials on the emperor's behalf. The whole court feared them.

Yet that night, Chanyuan went to pay her respects at the crown prince's residence.

Through a curtain of beads, he lowered his phoenix eyes, his pale fingertips teasing the wick of an eternal lamp.

"Miss Fu has come to pledge her loyalty?"

The crown prince's voice was as soft as spring snow settling on a branch. When the beaded curtain was drawn aside, she finally saw the Bright Emperor, as the world beyond her boudoir knew him, and her spine went cold with shock.

The aloof man before her was unmistakably her husband from her previous life, frail and sickly, yet his words were dark and cold. He was nothing like the gentle, refined gentleman she remembered.

Chanyuan gathered her black robes around herself and knelt on one knee. "This subject is presumptuous, but I know this much: if Your Highness wants this realm, then I shall become your most loyal blade."

The crown prince lifted her chin. "And if I want you to be more than my secret guard? If I want you as my concubine, what will you do?"

Chanyuan stared in confusion into Shen Xuansu's eyes, only to find not the slightest hint of a joke in them.

*

Not a concubine, a wife. He's just too proud to say it.

Both leads are reborn. They both play the fool to catch the tiger, and neither wants to repeat the past, so they'll make choices completely different from those in their previous lives.

The female lead is an extreme beauty who charms everyone. She is carefree and uninhibited, loves and hates boldly, and stands tall and proud.

The male lead is gentle but cunning, rational, restrained, and frail in public, but lovesick behind closed doors.

There's a lot of romance, lots of drawn-out wording and detail, and the author loves extensive buildup. It may be slow to warm up and not that satisfying, so don't read if that's not for you.

Deep down, they're just a pair of love-struck fools.

An alternate world modeled on the institutions of the Western Han dynasty.

One-on-one romance. The female lead was bullied in her previous life, but both leads are pure in this life! Pure! Pure! Happy ending!

Feel free to leave criticism or praise. Stay or go as you please.

Why has my perfectly good husband turned bad? vs. Why has my perfectly bad wife turned good?

Theme: See all the mountains and rivers and taste every flavor of life, and you will not have lived in vain.