Shen Yan was originally the son of a guilty minister. After being rescued by Zhaoye, he stayed with her as an attendant. He witnessed Zhaoye's "madness" - in order to protect him, she killed the prince's valet who was making things difficult for him; he also knew her fragility - in the middle of the night, she would hold the late queen's relics and cry silently. In the court, the princes regarded Zhao Ye as a thorn in their side and planned a frame-up. Shen Yan relied on his photographic memory and meticulous thinking to help her resolve crises time and time again: intercepting poisoned secret letters, seeing through the assassin's disguise, and even injuring himself to lure the snake out of the hole.
Zhaoye's attitude towards Shen Yan gradually changed from "interesting chess piece". She would give him rare medicinal materials given by the emperor, and would personally apply the medicine when he was injured, but she still said, "If you die, I will find a better one." And Shen Yan had already regarded Zhaoye as his faith. When the third prince used his family as a threat to force him to betray, he cut off his fingers and declared: "My life belongs to the eldest princess, and so does my soul."
In the end, Zhaoye, with the assistance of Shen Yan, put down the prince's rebellion, supported the young emperor's nephew to ascend the throne, and became the actual leader of the dynasty. At the enthronement ceremony, she took Shen Yan's hand in front of all the officials: "From now on, he is not a servant, but the husband of the eldest princess."
