The aloof regent x the fallen young heiress [Two powerful leads / Mutual salvation / From using each other to true love]
Overnight, the Grand Tutor's household was branded with the crime of “colluding with the enemy and betraying the country.” All the men of the family were beheaded, and the women were enslaved. Shen Qingci, the legitimate daughter, was tormented in the palace laundry. Every day, she heard the news that her enemies, her half-sister and former fiancé, were about to marry. Unwilling to sink into ruin, she decided to take a desperate gamble.
Taking advantage of an errand delivering clothes to the palace, she deliberately crossed paths with Regent Murong Yuan's procession. Everyone feared this “living King of Hell,” yet Shen Qingci knelt on the cold stone and raised her dust-covered but still lovely face. Calmly, she said, “Your Highness, I have a deal to propose. I will trade myself for the innocence of the entire Shen family.”
Murong Yuan looked down at her. The frail woman was trembling, yet her eyes shone with astonishing brightness. He remembered seeing her from afar once, three years earlier, when the late emperor was still alive. Back then, she had been the capital's most celebrated beauty and talent, bright as the spring sun. Now she was cold as winter snow.
Almost against his will, he took her away.
At the regent's residence, Murong Yuan thought she was nothing but a pawn who would do anything for revenge, and watched her struggles with cold indifference. Shen Qingci thought he was merely a schemer using her to bring down Consort Shu's faction, so she carefully hid every trace of vulnerability.
Yet when someone tried to assassinate Shen Qingci, the usually composed regent lost control for the first time and personally hacked the assassin into a bloody mess. And when Shen Qingci risked her life to obtain evidence and nearly fell from a building, Murong Yuan flew to her rescue without a thought for his own safety, holding her tightly in his arms in front of everyone.
In this cold transaction, they saw each other's deepest scars.
