When the primordial chaos divided into the two cosmic forces, heaven and earth took their separate shapes. Yet the single word "love" remains like a tangled knot: the more one tries to untangle it, the more disordered it becomes; the tighter it binds, the more agonizing it grows, until it finally settles as a scar upon the heart that refuses to heal.
On the day I first entered the Inner Court, the phoenix tree leaves were rustling down, covering the palace paths in a mantle of gold and crimson that looked like a blood-stained road. Draped in plain white bridal attire, I stepped across the shattered gold scattered upon the ground and, beneath the probing gazes of the crowd, walked into that towering palace.
I was originally the daughter of the Grand General Zhenyuan. Yet because my father held vast military power and his achievements overshadowed the sovereign, an imperial edict from the Emperor summoned me into the palace to be named Noble Consort Shu. I knew that this seemingly glorious title was, in truth, merely the Emperor's wariness and check against my father.
Chapter 225