[One heroine, one hero, both ruthless and trying to kill each other, a deranged man versus a lone fighter, intense push and pull, he chases her after she leaves]
She is a greedy, lustful concubine in a general's household who loves to play the pig to eat the tiger.
Most of the time, she keeps her head down and stays out of other people's business. She's no saint; she can't save everyone.
But she doesn't mind becoming a deadly judge, secretly carrying out Heaven's will.
While trying to stop an arranged marriage, a twist of fate forces her to wed the black-lotus beauty raised in the Chancellor's household.
The first time she tries to kill him, she sneers, “You die, I live.”
He survives by sheer luck and sets a love trap to lure her in.
Just as they begin to fall for each other, he turns around and slaughters her family.
When the people of the realm find their way into her heart, she drives a blade through his pipa bone once more. “We will never meet again, in life or death!”
They were meant to be each other's undoing, but when a madman collides with a lone fighter, an ember of sincerity somehow sparks between them.
She becomes a saintess of the enemy nation, while he clings to life, becomes a hostage, and is reduced to her male lover.
This time, when she raises her blade to kill her husband, she means to clear his name and restore his honor, then grant him a fearsome reputation to help him become Regent.
Dressed in red and spattered with blood, she wins him military power and breaks through the city's defenses. “I'll help you overthrow this realm!”
She personally seats him on the throne as the new emperor, only to become a deposed empress imprisoned in the Cold Palace...
