[Scheming, Vengeful Bad Girl vs. Mercurial, Brooding Heir]
Wen Xi, the new maid at the Duke of Guo's residence, looks obedient, but she's full of wicked ideas.
On her first day after being sold into the household, she sets her sights on the sickly heir.
Everyone else says he won't live through the winter. Only she can tell that he's hiding his true nature even better than she is.
"My lord, how about a deal?" She crouches by his bed, her fingertip tracing the pulse at his wrist. "I'll find the person who poisoned you, and you guarantee me a life of wealth and glory."
He looks down at her, smiling coldly yet seductively. "Oh? That depends on whether you're capable of it."
From that day on, the scent of her medicine and his sickly aura intertwine, until it's harder and harder to tell whose breath the other has stolen.
She pretends to take his pulse, but he catches her hand and slowly strokes her palm with his thumb.
"Wen Xi, these hands of yours... Are they for saving lives, or taking them?"
Her heart skips a beat. This man knows everything.
Yet he refuses to call her out, and instead spoils her until she can get away with anything.
When she wants to investigate the culprit, he turns the entire Duke of Guo's residence into a chessboard for her. When she wants to hide her talents, he shields her from every open attack and hidden threat.
Alone together in the dead of night, he pins her against the medicine cabinet, his breath burning hot.
Until her true identity is exposed, and an imperial decree has her taken to the palace.
The court officials wait to see him make a fool of himself. What can a sickly man possibly do to turn things around?
But he calmly puts on his imperial robes, a smile tugging at his lips.
"My girl, I've finished drinking the poison you left me. Now... it's your turn to give me the antidote."
