[A male lead who's a master of disguise and utterly unhinged + a clear-eyed heroine + exquisite tragic beauty + angst]
Ye Lanshan is a notorious troublemaker in the Qi kingdom.
To keep her from causing trouble, she's put under house arrest.
Yuwen Zhaoling is a hostage prince sent from the Wei kingdom.
To escape a life of humiliation, he plans a revenge plot with his own hands.
When they first meet, she's a princess and he's an assassin.
His attack injures her maid, and during their fight, he wounds her arm. He means to knock her unconscious, but Third Prince Helan Yize shows up, forcing him to flee in a panic.
They meet again beneath a rockery.
Thinking she's seen through his disguise, he deliberately starts reciting from a book. To his surprise, she snatches it from him and tosses it into a tree. When he climbs up to retrieve it, he accidentally falls into a pond.
From then on, whenever he's somewhere, she's sure to show up too.
He spends five years as a hostage, and she stays by his side for all five. Only after he reclaims the throne does she learn that it was all part of his plan.
Their very first meeting had been a conspiracy.
He imprisons her in the palace and turns her into a pawn.
During her three years in the palace, her family members die one after another in the wastelands. She stares at the vast palace, her heart dead within her. Then the Third Prince, missing for years, suddenly appears, allowing her to leave.
After she leaves, he searches for her like a madman.
When they meet again, she has become what he was years ago, holding a sword to his throat. He walks toward her, one step at a time.
At that moment, her desire for revenge gives way to compassion.
The cold, aloof emperor lets her run him through the chest and begs her to stay.
But what about her family?
“Shanshan.”
“Mother, you're alive?”
