Ashes Beneath the Brocade Canopy

Han Tongxuan, the Princess of Jiangnan, believed she was helping a fallen crown prince reclaim his throne. She led the northern campaign, saw him crowned, and personally helped put Yuan Yixiu on the throne. She thought they would rule the realm together as emperor and empress. But she never imagined that the face beside her in bed was a skin mask, thin as a cicada's wing.

Beneath the mask was the tyrant deposed years ago: Emperor Wenzong, Yuan Tietu. He had murdered his brother to seize the succession, won the civil war, and massacred the imperial clan. After being overthrown, he killed the real Crown Prince Yuan Yixiu, disguised himself, and deceived his way to Jiangnan. Now he had returned, and Han Tongxuan was merely a hostage in his hands, useful for keeping control of Jiangnan's armies.

When the truth came out, Han Tongxuan was imprisoned deep inside the palace. He wanted her to remain empress, bear him a prince with Han family blood, and pave his way to the throne a second time with her body and dignity. But Han Tongxuan was no puppet. She was a princess who had fought her way through blood and fire.

When she secretly took up the mission left by her former followers, when her child mysteriously died, and when the Yuan clan royals who had fled north to the desert returned, she would kindle a fire inside this prison of a palace, one that would burn away every disguise.

Watch a masked emperor and an imprisoned empress go from deceit to destruction.