Royal Cubs: The Panther Secret

Su Wanqing is a consort of Emperor Xiao Huan and has given him two princes. At night both boys turn into black panther cubs. She came into the palace from Hejian, where she was a peasant's daughter, and everything she has now depends on nobody finding out what happens to her sons after dark. The Empress hunts for a way to bring her down, and Consort Li humiliates her. The intrigues of the inner court wear at her, and her dealings with Xiao Huan, who keeps a cold face toward her, are broken up by one misunderstanding after another, so the two of them draw close and pull apart by turns. All her effort goes into keeping the boys hidden. At the banquet for the sixth birthday of the crown prince, Xiao Che, the secret comes out in front of the court. The exposure turns into a question of whose blood the throne truly belongs to, and a struggle over the succession follows, then an armed rebellion, with the feeling she and the emperor have held back for so long caught up in the middle of it.