Chapter 1: The Disgraced Consort, Shen He

The high walls of the deep palace were like a massive cage. The winter wind was exceptionally cold, biting to the bone.

Inside the Cold Palace, Shen He's figure was emaciated, her eyes sunken deep into their sockets. Leaning against the doorframe, she gazed into the distance with eyes full of anticipation.

Moments later, her maid, Gu Yu, came running over, stepping on the withered branches and fallen leaves that carpeted the ground, her voice choked with tears.

"My Lady..." She bit her lip, finding the news she had received too difficult to utter.

Shen He's heart skipped a beat. Suppressing the unease in her chest, she asked, "Is there any news?"

Gu Yu stammered, her eyes darting away. "This servant..."

The more she hesitated, the more anxious Shen He became. Grabbing Gu Yu's arm, she pleaded urgently, "Tell me! Speak!"

Her ghost-like appearance instantly frightened Gu Yu. The young maid's tears fell like rain as she finally gasped out, "The Emperor has exiled the entire Shen family."

Exiled. The entire family.

He had not shown even a shred of mercy!

For generations, the Shen family had produced generals who defended the borders and fought for the nation, each one a peerless hero. The current Emperor had relied precisely on the Shen family's power to seize the throne.

And now... he discarded them like worn-out shoes.

Instantly, Shen He's eyes turned bloodshot, and she collapsed weakly to the ground.

She had not cried when she was framed and banished to the Cold Palace.

She had not shed a single tear when she heard the Emperor was taking a new bride.

Yet now, she burst into violent sobs. Tears gushed forth like a bursting dam, and her heart-wrenching wails pierced the sky.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning ripped through the sky, momentarily illuminating the cold, dark palace in stark white.

Seeing this, Gu Yu threw her arms around her, still clinging to a sliver of hope. "My Lady, why don't you go beg the Emperor? When His Majesty was still young, you stayed by his side and supported him through everything. This servant saw it all, and so did everyone else. Surely the Emperor has not forgotten this bond."

The maid's words pulled her back to reality slightly. Dazed, memories of the past flashed before her eyes like a revolving lantern.

She had met him when he was still the Third Prince, just as she reached her fifteenth year. During the Lantern Festival, she had fallen from a height. He had galloped down the long street to save her, and they had fallen in love at first sight.

Later, at the Spring Banquet, they met again in the plum blossom grove and pledged their love under the lanterns.

At the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet, the late Emperor bestowed their marriage. Shen He willingly became his shadow, supporting him step by step until she pushed him onto the throne...

Yes, he had to remember their past devotion!

"Yes, I will go beg him..."

She muttered to herself, stumbling to her feet. Pushing aside the pearl ornaments nearby, she rushed outside.

* * *

The cold winter wind howled, and the sky was dark and gloomy, threatening rain.

The distance was not far, yet the journey felt as long as a lifetime.

By the time she reached the palace gates, her legs had long lost their strength. With a thud, she fell to her knees. Inside, the palace was brightly lit and exceptionally warm, radiating a cozy comfort.

"The disgraced consort, Shen He, begs to see the Emperor!"

The guards before the hall turned a deaf ear, their eyes filled with mocking amusement.

No one responded; she was nothing but a joke.

Yet Shen He steeled herself and cried out with all her might, "The disgraced consort, Shen He, begs to see the Emperor! May Your Majesty retract the decree! Spare the Shen family!"

Thunder roared, and raindrops as large as beans began to fall, turning into a torrential downpour in an instant.

Winter rain was the coldest of all, striking the body like physical blows.

Kneeling in the rain, Shen He looked incredibly small, yet her spine remained resolutely straight.

"Shen He begs... to see the Emperor."

Her voice was as weak as a drifting ghost, but her will remained unyielding.

Inside the palace, just a door away, was a completely different world.

"Your Majesty, are you really going to just let her kneel out there?" Lying on the daybed, a woman with seductive eyes lightly stroked the man's chin, teasing him.

A flash of disgust crossed the Emperor's eyes, and he said coldly, "It is already mercy enough that I have kept her alive until now. What does she think she is?"

Then, his expression shifted, and he pounced onto the daybed like a ravenous tiger.

Driven by desire, he pulled the delicate beauty into his arms, grasping her soft flesh with a rough thrust.

The woman instantly let out a soft, coquettish moan.

"Your Majesty, you are so wicked."

"This is only the beginning."

The bed began to shake. The sounds of intimacy merged with the patter of the rain outside, punctuated from time to time by Shen He's near-broken pleas...

Whether by design or coincidence, the sounds inside grew louder, drifting mockingly into Shen He's ears, grating on her every nerve.

Her heart turned completely cold. The rain was too heavy; she could no longer tell if there were tears on her face.

"Xiao Jingren! You truly are heartless and ungrateful!"

With that furious scream, her heart shattered completely.

Ever since he ascended the throne, he had sought to suppress the Shen family to secure his power. First, he had banished her to the Cold Palace on fabricated charges, and then he dismantled the Shen family's influence in court.

Shen He wept bitterly.

The proud, legitimate daughter of a general had ended up like this.

Wiping the rain from her face, her peripheral vision caught the sword at the side of a nearby guard.

She sprang up and drew the sword with lightning speed. Gripping the blade, she rushed toward the palace. She wanted nothing more than to break in and slaughter this ungrateful, treacherous pair.

Her life was worthless anyway; dying after doing one good deed would be enough.

"Someone, protect the Emperor! Protect the Emperor!"

The shrill voice of a eunuch carrying an umbrella rang out.

Guards swarmed out. In the next instant, cold blades surrounded her neck, and she was forced to her knees on the ground, utterly humiliated.

The eunuch glared at her, his voice high-pitched. "How ungrateful! To actually attempt to assassinate His Majesty!"

* * *

The shouts faded along with the rumbling thunder, and the noises inside the room subsided.

The palace doors were pushed open. Xiao Jingren stood on the high platform, his gold-embroidered dragon robe half-open and untied, looking down coldly at Shen He, who was pinned down in the rain.

After a long pause, he sneered, "Shen He, you truly are a fool."

Shen He felt as if her heart were being squeezed by a vice. Disregarding everything, she slammed her forehead repeatedly against the ground, her bright red blood dissolving into the rainwater.

"I beg Your Majesty, spare the Shen family. I beg you..."

Xiao Jingren sneered. He walked down the steps step by step and gripped her chin fiercely, forcing her to look up.

He scoffed, "Spare the Shen family? Ha. The Shen family's achievements overshadowed the throne. They were merely my pawns in the fight for succession. If not for their power, how could I have ascended to this height?"

A flicker of disdain crossed his eyes, his tone mocking. "Shen He, did you really think there was some sort of affection between us? Since things have come to this, I might as well tell you. The pledge under the lanterns, the love at first sight—it was all engineered by me.

"Come to think of it, if you hadn't begged the late Emperor to bestow our marriage, the Shen family would never have met this end! Shen He, it was your own hands that buried your entire clan..."

Xiao Jingren's words fell alongside a clap of thunder. Shen He froze, as if struck by lightning.

It was she who had destroyed her entire clan, she who had personally sent her father and brothers to prison...

Her heart twisted in agony. Curling her body in pain, she began to laugh softly, before erupting into a mad, hysterical laughter.

Only now did she realize that everything in the past had been orchestrated by Xiao Jingren.

Feigning love to have her request the marriage from the late Emperor, then using the Shen family to eliminate his rivals and smoothly ascend the throne.

It wasn't that he had had a change of heart; he had been in love with her concubine-born sister all along. No wonder he had been so eager to banish her to the Cold Palace.

Shen He laughed until tears ran down her face, her thin shoulders trembling in the rain.

Xiao Jingren looked coldly at her miserable state, gestured to the eunuch beside him, and walked away without looking back.

Understanding the signal, the eunuch immediately slipped a small porcelain vial from his sleeve, held it out to Shen He, and sighed.

"Lady Shen, this is a mercy from His Majesty. For the sake of your years of service, do not prolong your suffering."

The poison in her hand was a cruel irony. He had wanted her dead from the very beginning.

Shen He laughed maniacally.

She laughed at her own stupidity. Looking back, every step of the way had been his calculation, and she was nothing but a pawn.

In the next second, she raised the small vial and drank it in a single gulp.

The poison took effect instantly, spreading through her limbs. The pain felt as if ten thousand ants were gnawing at her insides, invading her organs, a torment worse than death.

Her vision blurred. In the haze, she seemed to see a man running toward her through the heavy rain, a sword in his hand, radiating a murderous aura.

She tried hard to see who it was, but her consciousness was fading.

Summoning her last ounce of strength, she murmured, "Xiao Jingren, if there is a next life, I will surely..."

Her voice faded into the rain as a misty shroud enveloped her, and everything went black.