The Phoenix Returns to Its Nest

Plum, the national flower of the Tianqi Kingdom, is also known as the Jade Consort. The monarch bestowed this name upon her to signify loyalty to the throne.

The sixth young lord of the royal family, Yu Jinmo, is the court's most easily overlooked figure. Rumor has it that a mysterious force stands behind him. The monarch arranged his marriage to investigate that force.

Since they met, Yu Jinmo has watched the Jade Consort stir up the court, raising her hand and bringing down her blade as she purged one family of loyal ministers and treacherous officials after another. He also went on campaign with the army and watched her command ghost soldiers to destroy city after city. Yet her eyes remained calm, even on their wedding day.

“I married you so I could stay alive. Why did you marry me?”

“To go where the monarch wills me to be.”

Yu Jinmo wanted to see his wife show some other emotion in her eyes, just once. But when that day finally came, he wished with all his heart that nothing would ever change.

“Is serving the royal family really that important to you? Important enough to abandon even our little ones?”

Holding the Jade Consort, who had taken her own life, Yu Jinmo wept in silence. Behind him, a household servant held their two children, neither yet a year old.

“My wife, Jade Consort, Mo Yuntang has taken Alan and Asu away. I couldn't protect you, or our children. I am the most useless husband in the world!”

Yu Jinmo swallowed a red pearl and swore in despair:

If I could undo and change all of this, I would accept a fate of eternal damnation...