Yun Shuang is the personal maid of Princess Wu Baili of Nanjiang. To repay the princess for years of kindness, she disguises herself as the princess and travels to the Central Plains for a political marriage, wedding the young, talented emperor Gao Junyi, as the stories describe him.
Clever as she is, she plans to fake her death and escape the palace once her mission is complete. But while pretending to be sick, she discovers that the Central Plains emperor is also a stand-in. Not only does he secretly stash away money and know martial arts, he even draws a mole at the end of his eyebrow that wasn’t there before.
The stand-in emperor sees through her plan. She thinks she’s as good as dead, but he clings to her leg. “Princess, you mustn’t leave! You’re the only one who can help me now. I’ll give you half my silver! Please stay and be my ally, or I’m as good as dead!”
To stay alive, she remains and joins him in facing the open and hidden attacks of the harem and the court. She never imagines that she’ll end up falling for this drama queen of a stand-in emperor.
They should have been enemies. Even if circumstances forced them to become temporary allies, there should never have been anything more between them. She should have cut her losses and walked away in time, or she’d be doomed, dragging the princess and everyone in Nanjiang down with her.
Years later, he becomes the real emperor, but also the person she has no choice but to flee, however much it hurts. He follows her all the way to Nanjiang. “Yun Shuang, you mustn’t leave. You’d take my heart with you. I offer you my empire as a bride price. Will you stay and be my empress?”
