Sweet romance with a touch of angst: aloof crown prince x spy from an enemy state
A carefully planned encounter.
She steps into his Eastern Palace with lies on her lips.
As they spend day after day together, feelings begin to grow...
But the truth tears everything apart at the sweetest moment.
Furious with rage, he collapses on the cold palace floor.
Not knowing that she has angered him into fainting, she hurriedly scoops him up and carries him back to his chambers, keeping watch over him all night.
When he wakes, he has her thrown into the dungeon.
In the darkness, his long, cold knuckles climb her slender waist, nearly crushing the breath from her.
His Black Ice poison flares up.
She turns the tables and pins him down, smiling as her fingers brush his pale lips:
"Your Highness fainted, so I kindly carried you back to your chambers.
You don't have to thank me, but why repay kindness with cruelty?"
Later, when the conspiracy is fully exposed, an imperial edict sends her to the grim Imperial Prison...
The male and female protagonists are quite sweet at the moment, but I feel like they will become abusive later on.