Beneath the flourishing age of the Yu Dynasty, turbulent currents had long been gathering.
Shen Weilan, the illegitimate daughter of the Jiangnan Su family, married into Prince Jing’s household under the pretext of a political alliance. Her slender hands embroidered the spring scenery of Jiangnan, but hidden in every stitch was her family’s blood feud. She was the daughter of a loyal official of the previous dynasty, and had spent years undercover in the Su family, searching for clues to the Dingkun Jade Seal and the truth behind the wrongful case that had destroyed her family.
Her husband, Prince Jing Yu Jingyuan, was known throughout the court as an idle prince, devoted to calligraphy and painting and indifferent to politics. He had even become a laughingstock for being “afraid of his wife.” But on their wedding night, as the red candles burned high, the silver lotus pattern half-hidden in his sleeve and the signals he tapped out with his fingertips revealed another identity: he was the emperor’s trusted confidant and the leader of the secret organization known as the Dark Feather Guards. He had married her to keep watch on the Jiangnan Su family.
Both were probing each other with hidden motives. The needle holes in an embroidered handkerchief and the secret letters on the desk were all pieces in the traps they had laid. Yet as their defenses slowly crumbled, genuine feelings took root. When she put herself in danger investigating the case, he would cast aside his mission and do everything he could to save her. When imperial secrets left him torn, she would put away her blade and explore the mystery by his side.
The first clues to the Dingkun Jade Seal surfaced, only to lead to an even more complicated game. Gu Yunzhou, a top scholar from a poor family, used romance to climb toward power and secretly allied himself with the Shuo tribes on the frontier. Wen Tingyu, the gentle and refined head of the Wen family, turned out to be a survivor of the previous dynasty, plotting a restoration that had been decades in the making. Even behind the old Shen family case lay an imperial scandal capable of shaking the throne.
As layer after layer of false identity fell away, hatred collided with true affection, and loyalty became entangled with suspicion. Could they protect each other amid the struggles between noble houses, humble families, and imperial power, while also uncovering the deepest secrets of the Yu Dynasty?
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