[Female-Led Story] [Not a Fluffy Romance] [Wits and Strategy]
Overnight, Meng Qingwan, a renowned physician's daughter, becomes an orphan. The horrific slaughter of her entire family burns an undying flame of vengeance into her heart. To uncover the mastermind, she hides her sharp edge and enters the treacherous royal court in the guise of a frail woman, taking cautious steps through the web of power as she searches for a blade she can wield.
Behind the vermilion walls, she glimpses the fangs bared in the princes' power struggles and stumbles upon the tangled chains of self-interest binding the imperial relatives and court officials. When she unexpectedly crosses paths with the inscrutable Shangguan Yu, two hearts harboring their own agendas spark against each other as they probe and test. He sees her as a pawn, yet when she uses her medical skills to save lives, he catches a glimpse of her compassion. She uses his influence to investigate the case, yet when she sees him poring over secret border dispatches late into the night, she understands the devotion to country written between his brows.
War suddenly flares along the border, as barbarian cavalry shatters the illusion of peace. When her family's blood feud collides with the crisis threatening the realm, Meng Qingwan grips a poisoned dagger and makes her choice between vengeance and the greater good. She casts off her disguise and uses her unmatched skill in medicine and poison to help Shangguan Yu root out the traitors and ascend the throne. Then she takes up his sword and stands beside him on the windswept battlefield, protecting the land with a healer's compassion and holding back the barbarian forces as a woman.
From an orphan in a secluded manor to the emperor's beloved, from a blade of vengeance to a pillar of the realm, every step she takes is on the edge of a knife. Yet in their darkest hour, she and Shangguan Yu carve out a bright new world together.
