Chapter 1: Heaven's Change, the Crown Prince Ascends the Throne

In the twenty-second year of Tianwu, the Emperor of Tianqing passed away, and the Crown Prince ascended the throne, changing the era name to Wuchang. The new emperor’s coronation was celebrated across the land, with festivities and rejoicing everywhere.

Yet amid these joyful days, within a certain mansion in the capital of Tianqing, sorrow hung heavy, and silence reigned.

Rumor had it that on the day Emperor Tianwu died, General Chu Xiong was summoned alone. After the emperor’s passing, General Chu never emerged from the palace.

It was said that General Chu had colluded with the pirates, plotting to usurp power.

“Colluding with pirates? Attempting rebellion? How utterly ridiculous.” A woman’s voice echoed in the deepest, darkest cell of the Grand Justice Prison.

Chu Junhan, the sole blood heir of the Chu family. Born to be Crown Princess, the envy of all. Now, with the Crown Prince newly crowned, she had fallen to the rank of prisoner—what an irony.

Her father’s title as founding general had destined her for a position beyond the reach of most.

Yet now, her hair was disheveled, her prison clothes filthy and tattered—perhaps even the jailers could not recall how many criminals had worn this garb.

The man the Chu family had dedicated themselves to supporting had, in the end, become their harbinger of doom—how bitterly ironic.

Chu Junhan knelt in a wretched posture on the damp, cold floor of her cell, her gaze vacant and unfocused. She refused to believe, could not bear to believe, that the man for whom the Chu family had poured out their heart and strength would so ruthlessly destroy them.

“Well, little sister, why are you dressed so filthy? You’re the Crown Princess—soon to be Empress—how are these jailers treating you?” The sharp voice of a woman rang out.

Chu Junhan’s eyes, half-closed, slowly lifted as she heard the grating voice, peering toward its source through the dim light.

A pair of ornate embroidered shoes, a splendid gown… and above them, a delicate face.

“Liu Yan’er?” Chu Junhan’s voice was hoarse, her throat so parched it hardly sounded like her own.

Liu Yan’er, daughter of the Prime Minister. Not a confidante, but a companion of the boudoir nonetheless.

The girl outside the cell covered her mouth and laughed softly. “How is it, sister? Just a few days apart and you’ve grown so thin?”

Silence stretched between them. At last, Chu Junhan spoke, her voice raspy: “Was the extermination of my Chu family orchestrated by your Liu family?”

“Didn’t you already expect as much?” Liu Yan’er retorted, then covered her mouth with another giggle, her slender fingers pressed to her dainty nose, a hint of allure in her gesture.

Chu Junhan’s lashes trembled, and she let out a cold laugh through her nose, raising her eyes to glare at Liu Yan’er.

Meeting Chu Junhan’s icy gaze, Liu Yan’er’s heart skipped a beat—how chilling, how fierce, such a look in the eyes of someone at the brink of death?

But when Liu Yan’er glanced at the prison garb draping the girl, her anxiety eased, and she covered her mouth to giggle again. “Junhan, though the scheme was my father’s, it was the Emperor himself who ordered your family’s execution.”

Liu Yan’er’s laughter grew louder, until she broke into full-throated mirth. “Chu Junhan, so what if your father was a founding general? Dare to take what belongs to me, Liu Yan’er? Even if your father was a hero, I would seize it back. Shengjie is mine—the Crown Princess should be mine too, and the throne of the Six Palaces is for me alone.”

Chu Junhan stared in silence at the increasingly frenzied woman before her, cold as the depths of winter.

Her father’s lifelong loyalty had ended in tragedy; the man she had admired disregarded even the bond of husband and wife; her former closest friend had become the one to cast her into the abyss…