[Palace intrigue]
[Pure historical setting, family and country + high-IQ espionage and political scheming]
[A cold, ruthless player + a spy he raises from childhood + twists]
[He cruelly strips her of her dignity, teaching her how to put her armor back on in a living hell laid bare before her. In that moment, he loves her to the bone; in that moment, her passion burns bright, and so does her despair.]
She is a princess who survived by clinging to life in a turbulent age, and an inheritor of the silver-needle art known as the Thirteen Needles of the Ghost Gate.
She narrowly escapes a palace coup and struggles to survive amid the chaos. But one chance encounter nearly leaves her dead beneath his horse.
From then on, he sets the wheels of her fate in motion.
He has just rescued her from a lecher, yet refuses to testify on her behalf at the government office.
She has just saved him with her silver needles, yet is forced to accompany him and treat his injuries.
He watches her draw poison from someone with her mouth, yet shows not a trace of pity.
She risks her life to deliver the first piece of intelligence she has ever gathered, but he ruthlessly cuts off her path to survival.
With the realm on the brink of collapse and surrounded by foreign enemies, he casts her into darkness time and again, tempering her mind and honing her ability to face death. At last, she becomes a worthy pawn, one capable of holding up a bright lamp in the dark. He also helps her rise from the crucible, reborn as a fiery phoenix soaring through melting gold and stone.
On a board growing ever more treacherous, he makes his final move of his life in the light of dawn...
Such an enormous scheme, all just to bring one person into the game...
