On a snowy night in Yanjing, one bizarre murder after another takes place.
He is Prince Jing of the Great Yan Dynasty, the emperor’s most beloved younger brother and the empress dowager’s favorite adopted son.
Everyone says he is a dissolute libertine, spending his days in brothels and teahouses, with no interest in learning.
But they do not know
Behind those dreamy, half-intoxicated eyes lies a razor-sharp mind that misses nothing;
Beneath that carefree smile lurks a brilliant schemer who leaves nothing to chance.
Three years ago, Princess Consort Jing, Liu Ruoliu, died in childbirth.
Three years later, a woman’s corpse, stripped of its face, brings a buried secret to light.
The Painted Skin Case, the Puppet Case, the Blood-Red Wedding Dress, the Twin Souls, the Ghost Wedding, the Mirror Flower Fate, the Headless General, the Red Wedding Curse, the Fox Spirit’s Grudge, the Ballad of White Bones, the Bewitching Incense, the Impostor’s Tale…
Every case is bizarre and baffling, shrouded in mystery.
Every new layer of truth brings a shocking, horrifying reversal.
And behind the layers of fog
Lies the empress dowager’s unspeakable court scandal from her youth;
The ambitious Prince Duan Xiao Jin’s designs on the throne;
Emperor Xiao Yan’s complicated feelings of trust and wariness toward his younger brother;
And Prince Jing Xiao Chanyang’s obsession with his dead wife and his quest for revenge.
**When the truth is peeled back layer by layer, when family bonds clash with power,
