The day the kingdom fell, flames engulfed the palace, and the Taiye Pool was stained red with blood.
Crouched behind a rockery, Xi He watched Gu Yanzhou, who had once promised her “a lifetime together,” slaughter every last member of her royal family with his bloodied sword.
Through the thick smoke came Ling Yi, a powerful court official, dressed in black like the night itself. He stepped over the corpses and gripped her chin, his eyes a fathomless, frigid pool. “Want the Gu father and son to pay for their blood debt? Then be my pawn.”
He was a threat to the new dynasty. She was a princess of a fallen kingdom.
He taught her political strategy and gave her a silver hairpin, but warned her, “A pawn that falls in love is bound to lose.”
As he destroyed the Gu family, obsession lurked in his eyes.
When Gu Yanzhou came back to pursue her, and Ling Yi's “using” her began to mix with genuine feelings, she demanded through tear-filled eyes, “Are you helping me, or dragging me into hell?”
He gripped her waist and kissed away her tears, his voice harsh and fierce. “Hell is too cold. I'll go with you. But the Gu family will repay what they owe you a thousandfold.”
**A nation's vengeance × political scheming × first love turns into a battlefield × a ruthless powerbroker's uncontrollable love**
**In this game played in the name of revenge, whoever falls first loses everything.**
**Yet in the ashes of power, they insist on forging a bond that will never end.**
