In the cold autumn of the Fen River, beneath white mourning banners, the girl shed no tears, frost hidden in her eyes.
People said she brought ruin to her family and the nation, the heroine destined by prophecy to bring down the Tang Dynasty.
Her father and brothers fought over the family fortune, the emperor grew suspicious, poisonous schemes flourished within the palace, and the court joined forces against her. Her whole life was a succession of deadly games.
She believed in neither fate nor destiny. She believed only in power.
From talented lady to empress, she spent half her life in political struggles. Amid the haze where official histories and secret tales intertwined, she sought the truth behind her father's sudden death and seized the power of the realm, holding it firmly in a woman's hands.
Let posterity judge her merits and misdeeds through the ages. Only she knew that she had wrested that supreme throne inch by inch from countless schemes and rivers of blood.
