Bloodshed and intrigue fill the Golden Throne Hall of the Great Chu Dynasty. The ruthless Crown Prince Chu Tianxuan bears the bloodline of a true dragon, yet while ruling in the emperor's stead, he is caught in a whirlpool over the missing funds in the imperial treasury. His scheming, icy beauty of a Crown Princess, Xiao Nishang, controls the Xiao family, the greatest merchant house under heaven, and conceals witchcraft and poison arts up her sleeve, making every move part of a plan. A case of embezzlement involving the salt tax tears away the facade of prosperity. He points his sword at the nine clans; she tosses out evidence with a smile. He uses an iron fist to reform the court; she quietly takes over the grain transport routes. From salt warehouses in Jiangnan plagued by cockroaches to battlefields buried beneath the sands of the northern frontier, from an altar in the Eastern Sea where merfolk weep pearls to an underground palace in the Western Regions where the Buddha's bones breed miasma, this pair, “the sharpest sword” and “the most venomous sheath,” are both lovers at each other's side and pieces on the board. He cuts open his heart to seal their pact; she uses a love curse to pledge her loyalty. He nourishes her damaged heart with dragon's blood; she binds his imperial fortune with her soul. As witchcraft clashes with the destiny of the true dragon, and bloody romance stains the map of the realm, they scheme against the world and against each other. Will they rule the realm together as emperor and empress, or will they become sworn enemies who destroy one another?
In this game of war-torn times, the hardest move to make is the one guided by a true heart.
Political intrigue × fantasy × intense romantic tension
A mad couple loves and fights each other, together ushering in a bloody age of prosperity!
Keywords: Two powerful leads, political intrigue, love and hate, witchcraft, mad couple, struggle for dynastic supremacy
