The Day She Crawled Out of the Cold Palace, Her Secret Identity Was Exposed

She was a madwoman, an abandoned daughter, a sacrificial substitute sent to bring good fortune. For her wedding in the Cold Palace, she entered the palace dressed in mourning. Everyone watched coldly, waiting for her to go mad and die on the Noble Consort's wedding bed. But when the incense was lit, the Mad Consort stopped acting mad. She burned the curtains, sent the imperial physicians running, and was made a Noble Lady. On her first night, she secured her place in the Cold Palace. Smiling sweetly, she said, “Madwomen don't have to play by the rules. Whoever provokes me first, dies first!” From then on, the Noble Consort, the Empress Dowager, the Eastern Depot, and the Emperor all tried to figure out whether she was truly mad. But no one knew that the woman who smiled and babbled nonsense every day would sneak out old scrolls from her fallen kingdom at night, wielding the art of spiritual perception to stitch together the world's grand design, one needle and thread at a time. Was she a madwoman? No. She was the Crown Princess of a fallen kingdom, a practitioner of a lost spiritual art, and the sharpest blade hidden within the palace walls.