Luo Yang, the legitimate daughter of the Chancellor, is brilliant and perceptive, excels at music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and is a peerless martial artist. Her lifelong wish is to travel the jianghu with a sword in hand, free from the confines of the palace.
The late emperor was weak-willed. His half-brother, Prince Ke, was born to a concubine. During the struggle for the throne, Prince Ke deliberately supported the easily controlled late emperor's accession. For more than a decade, he held power over the court and reduced the imperial authority to a figurehead. To prevent the late emperor from making a comeback with the support of his relatives by marriage, Prince Ke ensured that every concubine in the imperial harem came from a humble family, shutting out the influence of powerful clans.
The crown prince was the late emperor's only hope. Though the tutor chosen for him by the regent was mediocre, the crown prince had witnessed the schemes of the inner palace and the treachery of the court since childhood. He understood Prince Ke's ambitions and spent more than a decade lying low, acting foolish in front of the regent, playing the pig to eat the tiger, and making plans in secret.
The old ministers loyal to the emperor understood the crown prince's predicament. They jointly petitioned to recommend Luo Yang, the Chancellor's legitimate daughter, as the crown princess, hoping the Chancellor's household could support the crown prince. The late emperor's only remaining real power was choosing spouses for his children, so he issued the imperial decree of investiture despite the pressure.
The regent did not want the crown prince to gain the Chancellor's household as a powerful ally, but he could not openly defy the court's consensus or the imperial decree. He could only plot in secret to sabotage the match. Luo Chang, the Chancellor's illegitimate daughter, was never favored and had always envied her elder sister, Luo Yang. She also coveted the position of crown princess. When the regent approached her, they hit it off and joined forces to frame the crown prince.
Pressured by the regent and concerned for the royal family's reputation, the late emperor was forced to postpone the investiture. Luo Yang had always longed for life in the jianghu and had never wanted to get involved, but after this framing, she saw the court's perilous situation clearly and realized that the crown prince was not as foolish as he seemed. In the end, she chose to stop backing away and joined forces with the crown prince, standing together against the regent as they navigate the power struggle in the inner palace and at court...
