also sleeps with her husband after the affair begins.

When MC was young, her father, Chu Qingyu (CQY) was a talented and beloved court official esteemed for his upright deeds and model conduct. Because of his prestige, the previous Emperor asked him to betroth his daughter to the Crown Prince, Xiao Yu (XY). Despite being reluctant, CQY could only acquiesce as he was but a subject. At some point, he accidentally uncovered the plot of XY attempting to assassinate the Emperor and secure his throne but instead of reporting it to the Emperor, he privately confronted XY. Feeling cornered, XY secretly falsified evidence and presented it to Emperor claiming that CQY was having an affair and colluding with a favored Noble Consort to poison the Emperor and crown a younger imperial son as Emperor. In one fell swoop, XY was able to eliminate the person who had dirt on him, the woman whispering in his father's ear, and his biggest contender for the throne.

Because of his actions, the entire Chu Clan was condemned and punished. The men were executed while the women were sold into s*avery and exile. MC and her maid Cui He (CH) managed to evade this fate when XY publicly insisted on keeping his promise to marry her and going through with it. By doing so, he was able to secure the political support of the talented officials who believed in CQY's innocence and make MC feel indebted to him.

During their marriage, MC tried to excuse a lot of questionable actions (ranging from violent tendencies to marital r*pe) because of her gratitude for him helping her. YZ appeared upright and gentle in public, but in private, he was often volatile and paranoid. Although MC was reverent and even fearful of him, she could never love him because of the way he treated her and the people around them. He often beat and ab*sed the servants when he was angry with her. Once, she gave food to a beggar boy who grabbed her on the streets. XY found out and had him brought back to the Eastern Palace where he made her watch them break the boy's arms. Another time, a maid tried to seduce XY but because of his paranoia, he believed she was a spy sent by the Empress Dowager and tortured her for information, leaving a lasting impression on MC. The most horrible of revelation MC had about him before finding out he was behind her father's frame job was when her maternal cousin, Zhao Yanzhou (ZYC) admitted XY castrated him.

Since childhood, ZYC had lived with the Chu family like a son but was able to escape punishment when CQY was framed because he was from a different surname and therefore clan. Due to his affection for the family, he couldn't bear to leave MC behind and agreed to work for XY. XY privately told him that he had the choice to either leave and never meet MC again or agree to work under him but live the life of a eunuch.

After MC found out her husband framed her father through a former Chu family steward that ZYC found, she was overcome with hatred and began to plot the Eastern Palace's total fall from grace.

First of all, I just want to emphasize how taboo sexuality is for 'proper' women in ancient society. "Good" women were supposed to be virtuous and chaste, and instead of seducing their husbands, they ought to present themselves as pure and saintly, not passionate and desirable. MC was raised in such a society, so even if her father didn't force such a mindset on her, it would still be ingrained. When she was grasping at the ropes for a chance to do right by her family, she had to overcome a lot of mental barriers and anguish in order to steel her heart and do what she needed to do. She used her body like a tool because that was all she had. That's all a woman in her kind of society has (f*ck you patriarchy). She did many shameful things that only prostit**es from that time did. At some point, she even made a sort of lingerie out of her inner-wear. I think such a thing was considered so debauched and le*d that even a concubine from an average family would never think to resort to it. (not saying men won't like it though. they might like it, but it won't stop them from condemning it and looking down on the women who use such means since they can have their cake and eat it too)

From the start, it was actually Chu Ning who approached Xiao Kezhi. She deliberately made a show out of revealing her most beautiful features and stirring his interests. Because of her impression that he valued talent and disdained corruption, she took the risk to try and beg for help in exchange for her body. Over the course of a few months, she put aside her pride and honor as a proper married woman and exhausted all her means to entice the Emperor into entering a s*xual relationship with her. At that time, all she wanted was protection and the promise that he'll properly investigate her father's alleged crimes.

We see that since her first attempt, ML had been moved in addition to being sexually attracted to her. Even so, he was suspicious of her due to her identity and did not want to give XY any leverage over him. What's more, he knew her father and also believed in his innocence but was confused and intrigued as to how different CQY and MC seemed to be to him. We see him question her intentions but not reject them. Time and time again, they would have high-tension intimate encounters in numerous places in the forbidden city only to be interrupted.

Eventually, ML would send XY away on a work venture and discreetly arrange for MC to visit him in the cover of the night. They consummate their affair at last. ML thought that after scratching the itch, he'd eventually lose interest but the opposite happened. He began to make the s*xual encounters a regular thing, but as their contact increased, so did his affection. He prepared a contraceptive pill for MC that was specially prescribe to harm her body as little as possible. Usually, MC would always drink a decocted contraceptive soup after interc*urse with her husband. At first, it was because she wanted to keep filial piety for her father but after her discovery of the truth, she continued taking the soup out of hatred and disgust.

Even so, he was still a bit vigilant around her as she had yet to tell him what she wanted. MC intentionally held off asking for the favor because she wanted to secure his interest in her first. Around this time, other love rivals appeared such as Qi Chenxiang and Zhao Yu'e appear. Qi Chenxiang was the niece of the Empress Dowager and was pushed by her family to become ML's Empress. She eventually backs off on her initiative because she was disgusted by his wanton behavior with other women (uhhh to clarify, all these 'women' are actually just MC in different disguises) and his lack of interest in her. Meanwhile Zhao Yu'e was a beautiful widow who was aiming to become a favored consort in other to protect her corrupt family from doom. She would later be rebuked for attempting to drug and sleep with the ML as a last resort.

Eventually, MC admitted that she wanted to ask for his help to get justice for her father. ML agreed and said he'd always intended on doing so anyway even without her to compel him. He also finally dropped his guard around her when he realized her goal in approaching him had never been for the Crown Prince's sake. From this point on, he'd realized he already loved her and even asked that she leave her husband and legitimately be his woman in return. MC agreed in a perfunctory way but ML was not satisfied. He told her to forget it for now because he wanted her to come to him on her own. Throughout their relationship together, a recurring theme in their conversations is her lack of regard for herself. Even during s*x, ML was often surprised and pained to find that she tended to ignore her own desires and needs in order to tend to her partner. Because of this, he took the time and effort to teach her how to enjoy herself, something I think she's never associated with interc*urse because.

ML never disdained her for being married or found her seduction vulgar and beneath him. When he realized he loved her, he immediately began to plan for a scenario for him to bring her into the palace with as much resistance as possible. Before his grand revelation, he'd already had two incidents that earned him a reputation for being a casual and fickle lover. During a hunting event, he openly led a cloaked young lady from the crowd (MC) into the imperial tent for 2 hours before re-emerging visibly disheveled, causing a wave when people began speculating whether he'd start filling the harem. Unexpectedly, he never brought the 'young lady' around again or gave her an identity, causing the nobility circle to feel that he's a rogue. The other time, he was drugged during the Empress Dowager's birthday and had to change his liaison venue in the last last minute. He went up a pavilion and had MC dress up as an imperial maid to hide in his arms while the crowd gossiped over his manwh*re ass. The 'imperial maid' was also never given a title.

After he decided to intentionally slander his own reputation, ML began to arrange for singers and dancers to parade the hall of his palace every night, causing the courtiers and nobility circle to believe that he was indulging in hedonism and carnal pleasures of the flesh with the entertainers when in reality, he'd spent his nights meeting up with MC or clearing out work. At a lantern festival, he had MC undress so he could paint her body with her favorite flower and then redress as a masked dancer. He then paraded her around his halls in his arms and roused another wave of disgust for his open lechery. For his last trick, he made MC dress up as a veiled noblewoman with her hair visibly done up to show she was married and had her carried into his bedroom. The Empress Dowager caught wind of this and was so angry she sent her attendant to tell him she wanted to see him at once. The chief eunuch refused to announce her right away so she barged into the room thinking it'd embarrass the Emperor into stopping but he just ignored her behind the screen and continued his flesh sheathing.

Around this time, XY had begun to accept that his only chance of restoring his power was by allying himself with Zhao Yu'e's brother and his army. Because of his feelings for his wife, he hesitated in deposing her but eventually caved to ML cutting off all his support and brought up stepping down as the Crown Princess to MC. MC pretended to be unwilling at first as to not alarm him and only agreed after his trusted aid blackmailed her using her remaining relatives' safety. MC consented and XY tried to reassure her that nothing would change other than her title. He told her he would still sleep with her, eat with her, and look forward to meeting her every time he came home not knowing how much each prospect disgusted MC. He even promised that once he won the throne, he'd install her as the Empress and main wife again.

In the end, he used the excuse of MC not having given birth these past 2 years to ask the Emperor to consent to his demotion of the wife. At the same time, MC asked to step down as Crown Princess to the Empress Dowager who redirected her to the Emperor. ML consented to both requests at once and just as XY was pondering why everything seemed to be going so smoothly, MC dropped a bombshell saying she was also willing to become a nun and move to the Taoist temple reserved for members of the imperial family. XY begged her not to go and suddenly realized that she might have known something about her father because he did not believe she could do something so heartless if she did not hate him. By this time, it was already too late. XY had to proceed with his plan and ask to marry Zhao Yu'e (ZY) which the Emperor also agreed to allow.

During all this, MC had moved to the temple and lived a comfortable life as arranged in advance by ML. He continued to make nightly visits to her and it was here that she confessed she loved him back and was willing to follow him. They shared several sweet moments and talked about their experiences together as they planned for the future. On the night of XY and ZY's wedding, ML openly walked from his palace all the way to the Taoist temple and entered MC's bedroom unhindered so the attendants could be their witness. The next morning, he brought her and all her luggage out to his resting hall and had her move in right away, having already prepared a decree to confer her as Empress and even reassured her that he would never take another woman on the side. When XY and ZY came to perform their post-wedding morning greetings, they had to meet the new Empress shell-shocked and horrified. From here, everything began to unravel and XY and ZY's increasing desperation to not get ensnared by ML's purge of the imperial court ended up in them convicting themselves and sentenced.

XY is confronted by MC and finally confirms that she knew all along. To add insult to injury, she admitted that she'd been having an affair with the Emperor all this time and let XY fly into his raging monologue and verbal hypocrisy. XY ends up dying in prison ahead of his execution after being convicted of all his crimes including the frame job of CQY. The novel ends with the ministers going from reluctantly accepting MC as the Empress to being contentedly accepting of her after her father's charges were cleared. After they'd seen the Emperor favor an unmarried noble girl, a maid, a dancer, and a married noble woman, a formerly married daughter of a loyal minister no longer seemed like such a nasty option.

ML and MC end up living happily ever after and giving birth to a pair of dragon and phoenix twins. MC also started a school for imperial maids after learning that ML's mother and little cousin wanted to learn but were unable to in their youths because of their lack of money and identity. (Sigh details like that... they always make me sigh idk). MC's beloved maid Cui He ended up marrying ML's trusted general. MC's cousin-brother also ended up with a girl he saved from being sold into s*avery after her whole family was convicted (yeah I didn't mention this before but he actually has the hots for MC he just never acted on it. good on him for moving on or attempting to though).

There was also another extra piece of a what-if world where ML and MC met sooner. In that world, ML saved MC before she could marry the Crown Prince but had to do so in disguise as to not violate the decree that forbids vassal kings from entering the capital without an imperial summon. Because of his actions, the imperial court became alert of his activities a year too soon and the Crown Prince proposed to join forces. ML refused, causing all factions of the court to ally against him. To top it off, the barbarians at the border saw the internal strife as an opportunity to invade. ML turned his forces to the border issue first and was able to win but since his forces had yet to reach their full potential, he was overwhelmed by the imperial armed forces and died on the battlefield. This extra life comes to ML in the form of a dream, causing him great melancholy when he recalled the contents. After getting up, he came to see his wife and children right away and held the family in his arms, telling MC how grateful he was to have met her at the right time; not too early and not too late.

FL's father refused to swear allegiance to him and wanted to remain neutral, so Crown Prince decided to frame him. BUT he still wanted FL, so he set up this elaborate farce about pursuing marriage with the daughter of a criminal minister to be hailed as some benevolent person. The thing is, even before that, they were already engaged to be married for so long. It seemed that literally everyone knew they would marry, but apparently that wasn't enough for that two-faced and profiteering ass of a Crown Prince.

FL successfully seduces ML (for revenge and security, 'cause ya know, she found out her husband actually killed her entire family, and who else could beat him but the man who stole his throne?) and they have an affair.

The uncle isn't entirely reprehensible for sleeping with a married woman: his nephew's wife, no less. He decides to acquiesce to FL's advances because, well, firstly, she's beautiful and he was genuinely sexually attracted to her; secondly, he knows that the Crown Prince is a two-faced bastard, and; lastly, he wants to know what propelled FL to this point.

My only gripe here is that I feel like the Crown Prince is too weak of an antagonist. He's dumb and rash, so he never really stood a chance.

He's extremely paranoid and he tracked her whereabouts as well as whoever she met. He couldn't sleep with her (she didn't want to either but still) because he was so suspicious.

he was so possessive he chopped off a child's arms because that child touched her dress. He also castrated her cousin as a condition for that cousin to work for him and even with the castration he was still suspicious of their relationship and didn't want her to be too close to him

he vented his frustrations on her with s*x whenever he wanted to, didn't care about whether she wanted to or whether she would enjoy it.

He expected her to serve him and be by his side all the time. Wipe him down even when she's exhausted, help him dress, wait by his side while he's drunk and be there when he's awake to continue serving him.

He never once considered her feelings and expected her to just behave dress and live the way he wanted to. He didn't want her to ride a horse because of his image, he didn't care about her feelings in trying to protect the people around him from his ab*se and had a maid whipped outside his room where she could hear it. He basically stifled and ab*sed her to the point where she believed that it was normal for her to live however he wants and she didn't even have any thoughts of her own for her own life other than clearing her father's name.

Empress Dowager retired to live out her golden years after giving up on her schemes. Her niece was relieved yet frustrated to not marry the ML and will look to marrying a man who will cherish her (met no injury after getting a little sassy with FL, thank God because she's legitimately not a bad person). Lady Yu ended up exiled, but she conspired to commit treason before defecting, but didn't get dealt with on the way out.