[A sickly, scheming mastermind who pulls strings from the shadows VS a deranged, patient man posing as a eunuch]
(Court intrigue + light fantasy + no rebirth + no transmigration + no mindless characters + devoted couple)
She is the master of a jianghu organization who returned from hell, using her frail body as a chess piece to outmaneuver the world.
He is a fake eunuch hidden deep within the imperial palace, using patience as a blade to overthrow the world.
A carefully laid test. A desperate gamble to survive.
She chooses him as her sharpest blade, but he wants to make her his one and only sheath.
When the master of control meets the beast who is best at hiding its true nature.
"Don't fall in love with me, or I'll trade your love for your life."
"Fine. But a blade and its sheath are one, sharing life and death."
In this game of chess with the realm as the stake, they are both allies and opponents.
But the true enemy is far more unfathomable than they ever imagined...
When the hunter becomes the hunted, who will have the last laugh in this game played on the realm as its board?
The entire Qin family, advisers to the Crown Prince, was slaughtered by the Eastern Depot's secret police.
That night, the flames of Qianyu Tower lit up half the capital.
Qin Zhilu stood among the plum trees at her maternal grandmother's home, blood welling from her heart and spattering the white blossoms.
The snow-white petals were stained red, a shocking sight.
Her grandmother had once told her that she was hard to kill and brought calamity to her kin.
Now, those words had come true.
She would return to the capital and seek justice for the 173 wronged souls of the Qin family.
A year later, in the capital.
It is a highly intelligent and Machiavellian novel with many twists and turns, and the emotional pull is well written.