I Want to Be the Empress Dowager

She was a little orphan girl who entered the palace as a maid to one of the Emperor's selected consorts. When she first entered the palace, she wanted to rise above everyone else. After fourteen years of relying on the charity of others for food and clothes, enduring humiliation and living at the mercy of their moods, she wanted to rely on herself. With her exceptional beauty and intelligence, she would win the glory of bringing the whole world to its knees. As she slowly grew up, a faint, elusive longing took root in her heart: to be the only one in someone's heart, loved and pampered, comforted and cherished, with that person by her side for the rest of her life. He was the overlooked eldest prince. His mother had died young, and his father was harsh and demanding. He dreamed of becoming Crown Prince so that, in the afterlife, his birth mother could be with the man she loved most. But when a graceful figure gradually found her way into his heart, he knew he was caught in an impossible dilemma. He was an emperor who looked down upon the world. Having made his way through a tumultuous first half of life and seen countless beautiful women of every shape and kind, all he wanted was a sweet, obedient young woman who would obey him unconditionally and keep him pleased. He once thought she was that woman. He could dote on her, but he could not love her.