Tags: historical romance, household intrigue, political scheming, substitute bride, marriage before love, a battle of equals
A marriage decree meant to be the eldest legitimate daughter’s misfortune instead became an opportunity for the concubine-born Shen Zhirong.
She volunteered to take her place, entering the Prince of Ning’s residence, which everyone saw as a den of danger, and marrying Zhao Heng, the heir rumored to be sickly and erratic, and to have already caused the deaths of two wives.
Everyone said the Earl of Zhongyong’s family had used a concubine-born daughter to evade the emperor’s command, and that she would not survive a year in that man-eating household.
But they did not know that Shen Zhirong hid a life-saving jade pendant in her sleeve, one tied to a secret from three years ago.
Nor did they know what kind of clever, spirited, and unyielding heart beat inside the seemingly meek and humble concubine-born daughter.
And Zhao Heng, the heir who spent his days claiming to be ill and never showed his face, was no ordinary man either. He watched coldly as this self-important little fox trespassed into his domain, treating the substitute marriage as an entertaining game.
The marquis’s household was as deep as the sea, and people’s hearts as treacherous as an abyss.
Left alone on their wedding night, her husband absent when she served tea, tested under the Princess Consort’s “concern,” and attacked from all sides by concubines and their sons… Every step was like walking on thin ice.
Shen Zhirong concealed her sharp edges and donned a mask, carefully laying out her own game in a gilded cage.
She did not know whether the jade pendant could buy her a chance to survive.
And he did not know when this game, begun with ulterior motives, would spiral out of control.
When false affection meets careful scheming, and the layers of disguise are stripped away, where will this bargain that began with a “substitute marriage” lead? Will they fall into the abyss together, or join forces to break the deadlock?
