To pay for her seriously ill younger brother's treatment, down-on-her-luck art student Su Jin strikes a devil's bargain with Quan Shiyan, the “shadow emperor” of the capital: she becomes his “living canvas,” allowing him to carve a design on her back with a knife to commemorate his deceased first love. Everyone laughs at her for selling her dignity for money, reduced to the deformed plaything of a disabled tycoon. Yet every wound that cuts through her flesh comes with his coldest lessons. Using pain as ink and her body as paper, he teaches her politics and strategy, forging a fragile flower into a razor-sharp weapon of revenge.
By the time she has finally grown strong enough to send her enemies to hell, she discovers that this has been a scheme all along.
He sheds his pretense of disability and rises from his wheelchair, his eyes filled with crazed fascination and admiration. “The goddess of revenge I raised with my own hands, welcome to my side. Together, we'll stand atop the world.”
It turns out he wasn't waiting for his first love. He was waiting for her. A contest for supremacy, with power as the betrothal gift and revenge as the bridal gown, has only just begun. In the eyes of the world, they are a devilish couple; in each other's abyss, they are the only light.
