In a matriarchal kingdom, men hold low status, and few ever enter government service. From childhood, the young Lin Heng was sold into the household of the powerful to serve as a slave. With his handsome, refined looks and gentle, guileless nature, everyone took him for a pushover they could manipulate at will. But no one knew that beneath his puppy-like appearance lay a heart as cold and steady as iron.
By chance, Lin Heng saves the Empress Xiao Lingshuang while she is traveling incognito. She grants him an unprecedented promotion into the court, and from then on, he steps into the heart of power. At court, he never makes the first move. He yields in every matter, wears a welcoming smile, and seems to have no ambition at all. Yet every concession is carefully planned, and every show of weakness is bait to draw his enemies out.
The powerful nobles who think he's easy to bully fall one by one into the web he has woven. They are ruined, yet can find no evidence pointing to him.
At first, Empress Xiao Lingshuang sees him as nothing more than a pawn. Gradually, however, she realizes she has never truly had this pawn under her control. As political tides shift and foreign enemies loom, Lin Heng, a lone male official, advances step by step, quietly taking the entire kingdom's power into his hands.
He never says he wants to compete for power, yet he has never lost.
