The Tale of Empress Wan

In the first year of the Yuanding era, Xiao Wan, the eldest daughter of a concubine branch of the Xiao family, was ordered to enter the palace.

Three years later, the legitimate daughter of the main branch joined the imperial harem. With no two consorts allowed from the same clan, would Xiao Wan accept her fate, or risk everything to fight for her place?

The child she had risked her life to bear became a pawn in the harem. Would Xiao Wan choose to resist or submit?

A trusted confidante she thought she could rely on became a palace consort in the blink of an eye, while Xiao Wan was framed and sent to the Cold Palace. Would she grow old there alone, or give up everything and set foot once more on this path of no return?

At last, when she stood at the very top of the imperial harem, she felt only desolation. Family, love, friendship: what did she have left in the end?

Forty years in the imperial harem: what was the sorrow of a noblewoman, and what was the sorrow of Xiao Wan herself?