Ten years ago, blood flooded the palace steps. His father and mother were brutally killed by his uncle, and Li Chengjin was lucky to survive. Later, he was granted a remote fief, where he scraped by under the thumb of his enemy. After ten years in hiding, his secret blade was nearly ready, but just then an imperial decree of marriage arrived: the emperor was marrying him to the daughter of a minor sixth-rank official.
Sun Yuanzhi was as sweet as a spring apricot and as lively as a clear stream. Her brightness burst into his world of gathering gloom. He treated her coldly, seeing her only as a pawn, a spy. Later, when he realized she was innocent and a victim of this arranged marriage too, he began making plans for her. The path of revenge was too dangerous. He could not let her get caught up in it.
He would raise her like a younger sister, even find her a man worthy of her himself. But little by little, his feelings changed. When he saw her growing close to the man he had chosen for her, jealousy drove him mad.
She is my wife.
Only when she truly turned and walked away did he realize that, amid his boundless sea of hatred, her smile had become his one weakness and his one shield. This time, the blade that would overturn the realm would instead reach out to hold on to that jade hairpin flower.
The path of revenge was perilous, but he would protect her.
If he could not protect the woman he loved, how could he protect the realm?
“Sun Yuanzhi, you barged into my world, so don’t even think about leaving.”
“No matter what hardships and dangers lie ahead, I’m willing to face them with you, Your Highness.”
