The illustrious Northern Marquis Household had long struggled to produce heirs.
The old marquis died on the battlefield, leaving behind a frail and sickly marchioness.
Twin sons: Xiao Heng, the legitimate elder son and heir, commands the army; Xiao Jue, the legitimate younger son, controls the household’s finances.
Shen Qinghuan is no ordinary orphan. She is the orphaned daughter of a convicted minister, secretly adopted by the marchioness as a child and registered under the name of a collateral branch of the marquis’s family whose only child died young. Cultured and well-mannered, she is gentle on the outside but strong-willed within, and skilled in medicine.
The reason for the unusual arrangement: Gravely ill, the marchioness worried that the twins, with the elder branch inheriting the title and the younger controlling the finances, would grow estranged over their divided authority. She was also anxious that there would be no reliable lady of the house to manage the household and keep the brothers on good terms.
Heeding a high monk’s prophecy that “when two stars surround the moon, the household will know peace” (or perhaps acting out of political necessity), she arranged a betrothal before her death: Qinghuan would officially be the fiancée of both branches, and her final marriage would be decided later, depending on the brothers’ relationship and whether they had heirs.
This was a stopgap measure meant to bind Qinghuan to the household and make her the key link between the two branches. The news was kept strictly within the household’s inner circle.
In their daily interactions, the twins’ different personalities draw them to Qinghuan in different ways, leading each to test her in his own fashion.
As they face crises together, dependence and passion grow between them.
Qinghuan’s medical skills and talent for blending fragrances may heighten the sensual tension.
Excellent work