Gentle Grace in Chess

[Transmigrate into a book + both leads are virgins + marriage first, love later + face-slapping and punishing scumbags]

[Sweet-faced, black-hearted, sickly beauty × fake playboy, scheming heir]

Jiang Kongqing transmigrates into an ancient political intrigue novel, becoming the sacrificial stepping stone destined to be discarded on the road to the male lead Third Prince’s ascension to the throne. Her reborn half-sister, Jiang Youxi, steals her destined fate as empress and relentlessly corners her. All of the capital laughs at her for mistaking a precious jade for a worthless stone and marrying an idle, good-for-nothing heir. Jiang Kongqing, however, is content to lie flat. By day, she coughs up blood and plays the invalid; by night, she quietly makes a fortune. Until one late night, she discovers that the study of her “useless” husband is brightly lit, and that a stack of secret reports on the political landscape of the next ten years is sitting on his desk… It turns out she isn’t the only actor in this play.

[On the surface]

Jiang Kongqing: Frail, coughing blood, harmless as can be. She waits for the heir to carouse while quietly making a fortune of her own.

Playboy heir Yan Shao: Cockfighting, hunting dogs, and getting drunk among the flowers. The capital’s number-one wastrel.

[Behind the scenes]

Yan Shao (thinking): My wife frowned at the account book… Wait, could she be plotting to help me seize power? She really is head over heels for me!

Jiang Kongqing: ??? Is this heir’s imagination getting completely out of hand?

But an even bigger “surprise” is yet to come

When Jiang Kongqing sneaks into the study, she stumbles upon Yan Shao conferring in secret with his most trusted aide.

In the candlelight, Yan Shao lifts his eyes and fixes them on hers, startled and uneasy. He gives a leisurely, amused smile.

“Wife, your secret identity has been exposed.”

“Want revenge? What a coincidence. My dark side… has just hit its limit.”