Deep within the imperial palace of the Dayin dynasty, Zhao Hengyue, the emperor’s third legitimate daughter, has been adored by everyone since childhood. Yet she cannot unravel the mystery of her mother Consort Chen’s “illness and death” six months ago. On the anniversary of her mother’s death, she touches a smooth white jade hairpin and unexpectedly awakens the ability to see visions from objects she touches. In the broken images, she sees her mother struggling to breathe, nothing like the “peaceful passing” recorded by the palace.
Within these palace walls, affection is always a blade wrapped in honey. Her cold, suspicious father keeps his thoughts hidden. Her gentle but distant elder brother, the crown prince, seems to be concealing something. Her fierce and guileless younger brother, Prince Jing, risks his life for her. Her grandmother, the empress dowager, wears a kindly face, but her eyes are cold. And her ambitious half-sister presses closer at every turn. Every family member she depends on harbors a secret, and the home she cherishes is a whirlpool of interwoven schemes.
What frightens her even more is that these visions are not always true. Those in power can use secret arts to alter the objects that preserve memories, leaving the truth lost in the mist. She follows the clues with her gift, only to discover that her mother’s death is connected to the bloodline of the Mirror-Shadow Clan, a secret passage beneath the Imperial Seal, and a royal pact sealed away for a hundred years. Her own birth, too, has long since made her the most crucial pawn in this struggle for power.
From a sweet, naive princess to a player of political games, Zhao Hengyue struggles between true and false visions, moving forward amid broken sibling bonds and surging court intrigue. She and her closest friend support each other through life and death, growing as they choose between family and truth. In the end, she strips away every disguise, reunites the estranged members of her family, and brings justice to light. This is a palace mystery of love and betrayal, protection and awakening, and a princess’s journey to find herself and redemption in an imperfect family.
