Historical Romance Angst + Angst First, Sweetness Later + Power Struggles Between Emperor and Empress + Forced Love + Fallen Princess + Emperor of an Enemy State
Zhao’s only princess, Yun Wei, was cherished like a precious gem by her father and brothers. But beneath an apricot tree in the cold palace, she came upon A Jin, a boy covered in wounds. She secretly brought him wound medicine and bandaged him, then slipped into his hand the cloud cake she had carried around all afternoon. That little taste of sweetness became the only light behind the cold palace walls.
Ten years later, Liang’s iron cavalry shattered Zhao’s palace. The new emperor, Rong Jin, stood among the ruins. Yun Wei looked up and met his gaze, recognizing in his eyes the stars she had once seen in the cold palace. But the stunning woman standing beside him was Qingyin, her Fifth Imperial Sister, who had been sent to marry into Liang years ago.
The grudge of a fallen kingdom weighed against the kindness of the past. In Rong Jin’s eyes, Yun Wei saw both the clear innocence of a time before he had been tainted by the world and the coldness of the man who had destroyed Zhao. A knife lurked behind Qingyin’s smile; she wanted Yun Wei to become a living sacrifice within the palace walls. Clutching the uneaten half of her cloud cake, Yun Wei navigated between the burning ashes and hidden barbs. She was the sweetness he had rescued from hell, and the ashes he had to grind beneath his throne.
