Throne of Thorns: Breaking the Chains

Raised in a well-off family, Qi Jia married Chen Rui with high hopes for marriage, unaware that she was stepping into a thorn-filled fortress. The absurd opening of their marriage, with her wedding ring switched and their bedding replaced on the day of the wedding, foreshadowed its tragic nature. Chen Rui's indifference as he immersed himself in online games, his prejudice that housework was women's duty, and the domestic violence that erupted during their honeymoon drove Qi Jia into an abyss. When their honeymoon became a battleground for their values, and Chen Rui's pathological possessiveness ruined a class reunion, Qi Jia saw the relationship for what it was amid the incense smoke of a temple. In the moment she broke with him at the airport, she resolutely pulled the wedding ring from her finger, as if shedding shackles that had imprisoned her soul. Faced with irrefutable proof of Chen Rui's flirtation with a coworker, and accused of being "cold-blooded and selfish," she drew strength from her parents and best friend and began her plan to be reborn: studying for the IELTS to take the helm of her own life, adopting a pet to heal her emotional wounds, and wielding the sword of the law to leave Chen Rui with nothing. After moving to Chengdu, Qi Jia rose from the ashes like a phoenix. Although the feelings that blossomed between her and Lin Hui during her internship at a substation came to nothing because their families stood in the way, workplace harassment tempered her into someone formidable. The once-timid heiress now stood her ground at the conference table, while late at night she studied hard for professional certification. The thorns of her marriage ultimately became the foundation of her throne. Meanwhile, Chen Rui's miserable life after the divorce, plagued by pain and financial hardship, seemed like fate's judgment on an abuser. With delicate prose, this novel traces the awakening of a modern woman. From the suffocation of a marriage turned fortress to the blossoming of an independent identity, Qi Jia weaves her scars into a crown and finally shines atop her throne of thorns.