Zhenyao

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Welcome, Guest 48597. You have entered the Imperial System for the Correction of Cursed Concubines.

Objective: Change your fate, earn 1 Billion favor points, and return to your era.

Main Mission Unlocked: Survive breakfast without being executed.

Secondary Mission: Give the Emperor another child! +1 Billion points (~￣³￣)~

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The sky was gray that day.

Rain tapped softly against the eaves of the Golden Crane Palace, as if the world itself was holding its breath. Li Zhenyao, Emperor of the Great Tang, was not a sentimental man, but there was something about the silence of that room that unsettled him strangely.

For three months, the woman who had brought the most chaos into his life had lain motionless on that imperial bed: the Empress Consort, his lawful wife... and his personal torment.

A ruthless woman. Cold. Devoid of affection even for her own children.

And yet, she still lived.

Zhenyao stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing at her still face. He had come alone. No one else wanted to be near her, not even the maids. Not even him. But something... something told him he needed to be there today.

A faint twitch. Then another. Her eyelids fluttered clumsily, as if she had forgotten how they worked. Zhenyao tensed. His breath deepened, his lips parting slightly as

The woman on the bed jolted upright, eyes wide as if she had just survived a stampede. She looked around with an expression mixed with confusion, horror, and... disgust?

—...Empress—he said, his voice tight.— Are you... awake?

Zhenyao watched her intently. She, however, stared at the ceiling as if a voice were speaking to her from the clouds.