[Survival] [Awakening] [Twists] [Ensemble Cast] A cup of poisoned wine, and her insides torn apart, sent Yue Li, a lowly bedchamber maid, to the gates of hell. She had thought she was nothing more than a stand-in in the prince's manor, chosen for her resemblance to the prince's "moonlight," with a life as worthless as a blade of grass. When a poisoning scandal involving the heir erupted, a maid from the princess consort's courtyard forced her to drink poison. The pain was like red-hot blades churning in her belly. She coughed up blood and hovered near death.
At death's door, she witnessed the prince, usually so dignified and aloof, lose control like never before. He roared and bellowed, the corners of his eyes reddening, and put the lives of everyone in the manor on the line, all to snatch a sliver of hope for her from the King of Hell. Then came a weary, trembling whisper that split the fog in her mind like a thunderclap: "Silly girl... If you were only a 'stand-in,' would I go this far?"
The poison was cured, but she was left gravely weakened, and a storm rose in Yue Li's heart. She wasn't a stand-in? Then who was she? What secrets lay behind the prince's unfathomable thoughts? The waters in the prince's manor were deeper and murkier than she had imagined. The princess consort, seated high above them all, brushed off the attempted murder with a simple claim that "the maid acted on her own," making a scapegoat of a loyal servant.
Her brush with death shattered Yue Li's dream of attaching herself to a powerful patron. She came to her senses: no matter how closely a shadow resembles its source, it is still fragile. Mountains can crumble, rivers can run dry, and even an immortal's protection may not be dependable. In this household, where people were devoured without a trace, she alone was her one sure path to survival.
"Since I'm here, I'll make the best of it." She stopped dwelling on the prince's occasional tenderness, never knowing whether it was genuine, and stopped hoping for his favor. Embroidery, accounts, the properties and meridian affinities of medicinal herbs... She began eagerly learning everything she needed to make a life for herself
How can domestic flowers have the fragrance of wild flowers?