After the emperor ascends the throne, Princess Li Shuangji is married off to He Huaijin, a Grand Academician of the Eastern Pavilion, to stabilize the various forces at court.
Newlywed Lord He: "The bond between ruler and subject comes before that between husband and wife."
After seeing the princess's skill at managing the household and her kindness, Lord He thinks: "Perhaps spending a lifetime like this wouldn't be so bad."
But when Li Shuangji hears He Huaijin call theirs "nothing but a political marriage," all the love she had painstakingly gathered the courage to feel is extinguished.
One day, Lord He realizes the princess has changed. Her eyes no longer hold warmth or expectation for him, only coldness and distance.
Yet Lord He takes leave to accompany his wife shopping and on spring outings, and even goes to the south of the city to buy her pastries. But the princess is heartbroken and doesn't even want to fulfill her marital duties one more time...
After the princess becomes pregnant, Lord He takes leave again, claiming that he wants to keep her company.
By the time she is due to give birth, everyone in the household knows that Lord He wept outside the delivery room until his eyes were red, and panicked when he heard the princess was hemorrhaging...
