The Coldhearted Minister's Caged Bird

“On the night of my proxy wedding, I was forced to administer medicine mouth-to-mouth, saving the life of my husband, a powerful court official who was already at death's door.

Yet he despised me as lowborn, called me a seductress, made me kneel in the snow for three days and nights, then pushed me into the water dungeon to die with his own hands.

Everyone laughed that I was nothing but the discarded daughter of the Ruan family, a plaything brought in to bring him good luck.

But they never knew my extraordinary memory let me keep ledgers full of hidden accounts, or that I had already built an army of thousands behind me.

A great fire ‘killed’ the meek Ruan Ruan.

When I returned, I was the silver-masked, face-hidden ‘Faceless Master,’ stirring up the realm's fortunes and becoming the strategist he relied on most.

He became obsessed with me, yet never knew that the person who discussed court affairs with him every day and plotted against him step by step was the wife he had personally cast aside and driven into a desperate corner.

It was only when I shot the crown from his head that he fell to his knees before me, eyes red:

‘Your Highness, I offer you the realm as my bride price. I only ask that you return to my cage.’

I smiled and caressed my slightly rounded belly, then shattered the divorce letter with my sword:

‘This time, you’re the one in the cage.’”