So What If I Was a Foot-Washing Maid? I’m Still the Empress

A thousand pleas for mercy could not buy back a single chance to live. In her previous life, she was a lowly servant who washed feet in Prince Duan's residence, so insignificant she was practically dirt, yet still nothing more than a disposable pawn sent to die on a whim. Reborn into a new life, she would never seek anyone's pity again.

She went straight to the ambitious Prince Duan, Mu Yuan, and struck a bargain: she would help him win the succession and claim the throne. In return, she would become empress.

The price was killing the woman whose identity she would take, wearing her face, and living on as someone else. Does it hurt? Good. If it doesn't, you won't make it past three episodes.

From a servant who washed feet to the legitimate daughter of a marquis's house, from being all alone to carefully plotting every step. She helped Mu Yuan eliminate rivals, build alliances, and suppress a palace coup. She even bore him a prince, not for his love, but to secure her own future.

But Mu Yuan seemed to forget that theirs was only a transaction. After she changed her face, he cupped it in his hands and said, "You're still you." After she took an arrow for him, he cried out with red-rimmed eyes, "I won't let you die." She listened, unmoved. In her past life, she had believed in true love, and the grass on her grave had grown three yards tall.

Eventually, she really did take the throne as empress. The entire palace hated her, and the court officials cursed her. Mu Yuan asked, "Did you ever truly love me?"

She smiled and replied, "Your Majesty gives me wealth and honor, and I bear your children. Isn't that the truest kind of love in the world?"

You want to talk about love? No, this is a business deal. If you can't give me trust and respect, then give me power and status. As for love? I gave that up in my last life.

(Clear-eyed, self-serving heroine x ambitious, career-minded hero; two formidable leads in a battle of wits. The heroine never loses her head over love, while the hero falls for her more and more, all on his own.)