[A modern soul × a player in the abyss | A double-faced prisoner × a deadly game of chess]
Every move I make is under his watchful gaze.
I was once a mermaid performer at an aquarium. One day, I drowned and woke up in the body of the most tyrannical disabled princess in the Jin Dynasty.
From then on, I became the lifelong prisoner of the name “Zhao Zhiyu.”
My paralyzed legs are the result of a conspiracy, the emperor’s favor is a false front, and my sixth brother, Zhao Zhifeng, who smiles with a knife behind his back, is the most inscrutable player in this deadly game.
He uses an antidote as bait to lure me into his game, then uses a gentle blade to slowly carve away my disguise.
“Little sister!” He wipes the poisonous blood from my lips, his smile cold as frost. “Play her well. Your life and death are mine to decide.”
Under his gaze, I transform from a chess piece into a player.
Then, on the night of the palace coup, flames tear through his disguise. His true identity could topple the dynasty, yet he shields me tightly behind him and whispers, “Don’t be afraid. This vast empire is the board, and I play only for you.”
Meanwhile, my fourth brother, who once treated me like a plaything and craved the chance to whip me, “dies” in exile at the borderlands, only to return to life.
When he comes back, his madness is gone. He has become an iron-fisted emperor who plans every move in advance. Clad in imperial robes, he points his sword at the capital and declares, “Zhiyu, both you and this realm will belong to me in this life.”
The new emperor on the throne is determined to have me.
And my sixth brother reveals the final card that could turn the world upside down for my sake.
His fingertips brush my trembling neck, his breath hot, intoxicating and poisonous:
“Now tell me, is your heart loyal to your bloodline, or... to me?”
