She deceived everyone, entering the palace disguised as a highborn daughter, became the intended Liang Di (2nd to the wife). She fell in love at first glance with the gentle crowned price, thinking that she had received a blessed marriage. Unknown to her, the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
She is like a butterfly caught in a spider’s web, unknowingly falling into a larger plot. A stone stirs up a thousand ripples, her arrival draws out the truth behind the bloody political changes. Is this actually a long-devised coup, or fate’s merciless trifling?
This strange and lonely queen, underneath the power and pride, is she considered blessed more, or unfortunate more? The gentle prince hidden in the shadows of the palace walls, underneath his mask of kindness, how cold and merciless is his heart actually?
Changes in the kingdom, changes in the throne room, she who is in the palace experiencing the tilting, the sinking and floating. Every time it looks as if there is a path to turn to, winter finally turns to spring, she finds that it is impossible to escape the cruel grasp of fate. In order to heal the wound in sight, one must cut into the heart. In the end, is it not true that love and hate is just a tool used in the pursuit of power?
[Ebook] [Audiobook][Alternate Audiobook]
Read this one a while ago. It’s a palace story to the bone, but it’s highly plot-driven and lots of front-palace politics and a strong backbone involving the large powerful families that helped establish the throne.
The story is pretty dry in terms of romance, because the prince appears to not be in love with the main girl. Kind of frustrating as a reader, because you can’t really get into the characters’ heads. They just kind of do their own thing, walk their own paths, and you just follow them like a ghost, not knowing what they’re thinking (except the main girl, because she is not good at mind-reading either) so everything is a mystery and you have no idea where the story will go except that the crown prince will become the king eventually.
There’s a lot of sad pitiful people in this story, but inside the sad situations, there’s a lot of touching parts. If 宛嫔传 and 芈月传 is stories you like, this one might be very to taste too. It was such a heavy read though, full of frustrating emotions, but I just couldn’t put it down because the story is very well written and the voice broadcasters are so awesome lol.