She transmigrated into a book as a sharp-minded, mischievous young woman. Born in the mire and raised on scheming, she deliberately latched onto the most powerful patron she could find to escape her family's cage and reclaim the enormous dowry of silver her birth mother had left behind.
In public, she was meek, obedient, and pitiful, every word making people want to protect her.
In private, she flirted and tested his limits, tightening her grip on the seven-years-older, calculating minister of state.
Their marriage was arranged to bind them together. Every encounter brought them to the brink of intimacy, only for tenderness to make him pull back.
He was ruthless and decisive to everyone else, but jealousy grew wild inside him. Pure-hearted yet obsessive, awkward yet helplessly devoted.
“Everyone says I hold power over the realm, but I am narrow-minded in just one way: I get jealous, and I can't let go of my sweet, delicate little wife.”
Then the mood shifts: she calls him an “old man,” and he laughs, “The more you insult me, the more I love you.” She takes up her sword for revenge, and he shields her: “If my princess consort wants revenge, what does it matter if I slaughter the whole world for you?”
“Princess, have a child, and I'll give you the realm to play with.” “Get lost.” “All right, I'll get lost to bed and make a baby with you.”
He had always stood proud and unbowed, never lowering himself before gods or buddhas, never believing the heavens would protect him. But when it came to his princess consort, he would beg every Buddha in the land and burn incense at every shrine across the four seas.
From using each other to losing control of their heartbeats, from feigned dependence to a lifetime of devotion.
A muddy jasmine blossom rests in the minister's palm. From then on, his cold heart yields to tenderness, and every romantic moment belongs to her. He was once a proud hawk who ruled the realm, but for her he folded his wings. She was once a tree battered by storms, but with him holding the umbrella, she grew into a towering tree. In all the world, only she could tame this fiercely proud wolf hiding a heart full of love.
