Oh No, I’ve Made the All-Powerful Duke Chu Blush

Male lead has had other women; female lead is pure. Physical first, emotional later, intense push and pull, over-the-top drama. If that bothers you, don't read. That night, she climbed into his bed, carrying the desperate resolve of someone with nothing left to lose, and a hidden vulnerability. He was clearheaded. He clearly saw the panic and calculation in her eyes. He knew this was only a transaction in which each got what they wanted. And he firmly buried every desire and every hint of surrender deep inside himself. But he forgot that the human heart is an abyss that can never withstand a test. He thought he could control everything, yet in a fleeting glance or whispered word from her, he caught a glimpse of her struggle and resentment. When she took a hit meant for him, and when she simmered him a bowl of warming soup, he fell for her tenderness and strength. He began to crave her warmth, to care about her moods, to lower his guard in front of her and reveal a crack he hadn't even noticed in himself. And in this game of chess called “surrender,” she, too, gradually lost sight of whether her original scheme was meant to survive, or whether it was driven by a heart she should never have had. With the blade of political intrigue hanging over them, old family grievances resurfacing, and the shackles of “clearheadedness” breaking one by one, will they devour each other in this vortex of power, or save each other? In this game that began with desire, who will fall in love first, and who will become whose prisoner?