On a snowy night in the sixth year of Yonghe, eight-year-old Shen Jingshu knelt in a dilapidated courtyard and watched shackles being fastened around her parents’ wrists. Just as her whole family was about to be sent into exile, Noble Consort Liang’s palanquin stopped before her. “Your birth charts are compatible with my son, Xuanjin. If you’re willing to become his child bride, I’ll keep your family safe.”
Looking at her parents’ graying temples, Shen Jingshu straightened her back. “This commoner agrees.”
Inside the body of five-year-old Seventh Prince Lu Xuanjin was the imprisoned soul of someone betrayed by his closest kin in a past life. He had once been Crown Prince Li Yan, framed by his father and younger brother and put to death during a palace coup. When Shen Jingshu was brought before him, he didn’t even look up.
“Xuanjin.” She crouched down to meet his eyes. “From today on, your big sister will take care of you.”
He raised his eyes, their gaze devoid of a child’s innocence. “Who gave you permission to call me that?”
He built a wall of cold indifference around himself, until he put out his own eyes to dispel the emperor’s suspicions. In the darkness, he heard the girl he had repeatedly pushed away testing medicines for him day and night. “This one is potent. I’ll try it first.”
Her slender fingers brushed over his eyes, wrapped in white bandages. “Don’t be afraid, Xuanjin. Your big sister will find a way to heal you.”
By the time he regained his sight, he had become emperor. He stopped her as she resolved to leave. “You said you’d stay with me forever.”
She bowed, gentle but resolute. “Your Majesty, our bargain is fulfilled. Your eyes are healed, and my family is safe. It’s time for us to return to our proper places.”
She always remembered that theirs was a transaction. What she didn’t know was that when she turned away, the suspicious emperor finally understood: he had long since fallen hopelessly in love with her.
