In the depths of the Tianqi palace, shadows lie in wait.
Seventh Princess Shen Ci is the most insignificant speck of dust behind the palace walls. Her mother died young, and timid and taciturn, she is bullied by everyone. No one knows that beneath her frail exterior lives the soul of “Shadow,” a top assassin of the Silent Pavilion. With false memories implanted in her mind, she bears a secret mission to assassinate a “traitor” and investigates alone amid the palace’s shifting mists.
By imperial decree, Xie Heng, the son of a disgraced minister returning from exile, becomes her study companion. He is gentle and refined, with a wealth of knowledge, yet deep currents churn beneath his eyes. A spy for another faction, known as “Ember,” he has long known Shen Ci’s true identity. He approaches her to protect his target, and to uncover the Silent Pavilion’s schemes.
One is a cold-blooded assassin hiding behind a mask of timidity; the other, a deep-scheming spy cloaked in gentleness. They test and distrust each other, treading carefully amid the struggles for imperial power and the clash of factions. When false memories collide with the truth of the past, when mission objectives overlap with mysteries of their birth, and when trust that should never exist begins to grow amid suspicion, who in this deadly palace game is a pawn, and who is the player?
“You and I both wear masks. How can we speak of sincerity?”
“And yet, in this hell with no escape, I believed you.”
