[Two equally formidable leads + palace intrigue + revenge + substitute marriage + love after marriage + groveling ex]
By day, she is the new empress sent to the palace by the Su family. She stutters, needs help walking, and can only kneel and apologize when bullied. Everyone thinks she’s a useless substitute, sent in place of her elder sister.
But no one knows that this “timid empress” is the Asura God of War of the Northern Frontier.
Three years ago, she cut off the head of a Turkic chieftain with a single strike of her sword, and the late emperor personally bestowed upon her the title of Northern Martial Prince. Now she has entered the palace for one reason: to investigate her sister’s death.
The Heart-Eroding Powder, secret letters, and silencing attempts: every clue points to Consort Li and the powerful Chancellor’s residence.
She thinks she’ll have to walk this road of vengeance alone, until the emperor, who pretends to be obsessed with beautiful women, stops her one night.
“That grip comes from practicing the sword?” He catches her wrist, his gaze playful.
She turns his hand around and presses her fingers to his pulse point. “Your Majesty, you don’t look like someone who only knows how to review memorials, either.”
He laughs. “What a coincidence. My mother also died from Heart-Eroding Powder.”
Two deaths, one culprit.
On the night the Northern Frontier is under threat, she grips the prescription tightly. “I’ll make them pay back this blood debt a hundredfold.”
He steps in front of her. “No one gets to bully my empress.”
Later, his eyes red, he begs her to stay.
She smiles. “Didn’t you say I was just a stand-in?”
His voice turns hoarse. “Somewhere along the way, the stand-in became the real thing.”
By day, she plays the weakling. By night, she slaughters without mercy. In this game of stand-ins, whoever falls in love first loses.
But she’s determined to win.
