Gender-swapped substitute × faked death and revenge × mutual redemption
『It looks like she runs while he chases, and she can’t escape even if she had wings.』
『But really, they’re evenly matched, playing a game for control of the realm.』
『I faked my death and came back not to love you, but to judge whether you deserve the throne my father gave his life to secure for you.』
A prophecy that “the realm would belong to two families” made the late emperor turn murderous toward his sworn brother.
A marriage pact meant to secure the empire bound the “last” “son” of the Cheng family to the imperial grandson.
Eighteen years later, the young general Cheng Si’an died in battle in the snowy mountains, leaving no body behind.
Xie Heng held the marriage contract in his hands. Everyone knew his position as crown princess would remain forever empty.
But he didn’t know that the eccentric, anti-imperial heroine in the six border cities was his “dead” fiancée.
She put away her bridal finery and hid her spear, hoping to have nothing more to do with the Xie family for the rest of her life.
Until enemy forces massed at the border and the gates of the realm were about to fall.
Amid the flames of war, he recognized those eyes that looked down on the world. Beneath the city walls, she gripped her spear once more.
He offered her the position of empress. She scoffed at the idea.
He offered to give her half the realm. She couldn’t care less.
Xie Heng stubbornly demanded, “What is it you want?”
Cheng Yingyun pointed her spear at the land and declared, every word ringing clear:
“Of course I want peace throughout the realm. I want to see whether your Xie family deserves to be the wise rulers my father gave his life to serve!”
