She was a petty thief who scraped by stealing purses.
Until one Lantern Festival night, when she stole a purse from a secret agent of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Hidden inside was a report capable of shaking the court to its foundations.
Overnight, she became a pawn coveted by three rival powers:
The Embroidered Uniform Guard wanted her as an agent, Tingyu Tower wanted her as a spy, and a powerful minister wanted her dead.
All she wanted was to stay alive, but then she discovered her origins were shrouded in mystery:
Her biological father was a founding hero of the dynasty, wrongfully executed twenty years ago. Her mother was a princess of the previous dynasty. And the old beggar who saved her life and taught her disguise was actually a peerless master who had retired from the martial world.
No golden finger, no transmigration or rebirth, just a deadly game of survival where every step could be her last.
From a ramshackle hut in Suzhou to the heart of power in the capital;
from a pawn used by others to the one moving the pieces behind the scenes...
She relies not on luck, but on the skills she honed surviving on the streets: reading people, disguise, thievery, and the extraordinary intelligence she summons from one desperate situation after another.
She is a double agent, moving between the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the martial world’s organizations;
she is also the Mistress of Dark Fragrance, building her own intelligence network to protect the people of the realm.
Here you’ll find:
· Political schemes full of one twist after another
· Battles of wits between clever allies and enemies
· Deep but restrained devotion to family and country
· Meticulously researched Ming culture and knowledge of Chinese herbs
“I won’t be a pawn. I’ll be the one who flips the board.”
One hundred volumes of turmoil await: watch a young thief defy fate and change her destiny.
