The Pearl-Shining Princess's Unmatched Schemes

Xiao Lingyi, the eldest princess of the Great Yin, is thought by the world to be a frail pawn who has long lived in a Buddhist temple. No one knows she hides a Heart-Mirror Pearl, which can reveal people's hearts and pierce through illusions, or that she harbors the strategic brilliance to topple the court.

Ordered to marry Pei Zhao, heir to the Prince of Zhenbei, she meets the strongest opponent of her life: the young general rumored to be cold and bloodthirsty, whose eyes conceal an unknown courage and old wounds. Their first meeting is tense, each testing the other. On their wedding night, when a secondary consort frames her, she uses the pearl's light to see through the dark clouds in people's hearts and reveal her true abilities. When he marches to the northern border, she takes on powerful ministers in court to preserve his military authority, and their relationship quietly begins to thaw.

From a witchcraft conspiracy in the prince's household to the mystery of the Southern Frontier saintess's origins; from an old case dating back to the previous dynasty and the late emperor's secret edict to standing together against the Northern Di's war fires, she uses the pearl to see into people's hearts, while he protects her with his sword. They go from a political match wary of one another to devoted comrades who stand side by side to break through every predicament.

The Heart-Mirror Pearl can reveal the twists and turns of people's hearts, but it cannot see the golden light that grows in his eyes when he looks at her. She has calculated every game in the world, yet never expected she would let down her guard for him and rule the realm at his side.

When the pearl shatters and its light fades, she no longer needs an external object to reflect people's hearts, because his eyes have long been her brightest mirror, and her strategic brilliance is the blade with which he protects the realm.

A marriage that began as a game of power becomes a legend of an uncrowned emperor and empress ruling the realm together. The history books record: For thirty years, the two jewels shone as one, faithful to country and beloved alike.