After eight years and 18 volumes, Sai Yukinowill end The Story of Saiunkoku (Saiunkoku Monogatari) light novel series on Thursday. In this fantasy set in Saiunkoku (an empire inspired by ancient China), a poor yet noble family’s daughter named Shuurei rises through the ranks of the imperial palace.
The light novels have 6 million copies in print, and they inspired a manga series (by novel illustrator and Angelique character designer Kairi Yura) and two television anime series between 2006 and 2008.
Weeks before an official news was released, the cover was already leaked. I’m just hoping that Shuurei will have a happy ending. Afterall, she deserves it. ^^
EDIT:
Thanks to natsumi for posting the link of the spoiler for chapter 17 and 18. You can now finally read it here: http://himeyasha.blogspot.com/search/label/Manga%20%2F%20Novels