Shen Jinghong has pretended to be mute at the Imperial Music Academy for three years.
No one knows that this silent musician was once the emperor's most beloved young prince. No one knows he watched his mother die in a palace fire with his own eyes. He hides his identity and pretends to be deaf and dumb, all just to survive in a chaotic age.
Until one day, a man pushes open the door to his music room.
Xie Yuan, the only prince of a different surname in the empire, led troops to pacify the northern frontier at thirteen. He is a ruthless killer, cold and merciless. Everyone fears him. But the first time Shen Jinghong sees him, he knows: this is the boy he saved from a pile of corpses on that rainy night ten years ago.
Xie Yuan comes to hear him play and showers him with gold. Xie Yuan investigates his past, closing in at every turn. Xie Yuan buys him out of the Imperial Music Academy and keeps him in the back courtyard of his prince's estate, as if hiding a beloved treasure.
Shen Jinghong thinks his disguise is flawless, unaware that Xie Yuan has already uncovered the whole truth, including that he is the mysterious boy who risked his life to save him ten years ago.
One dares not acknowledge the truth; the other dares not speak.
But some things may be hidden away, like one's identity, but not a racing heart. When Xie Yuan kisses the corner of his mouth, trembling in a thunderstorm, and Shen Jinghong can no longer stand it and kicks open the study door, every disguise crumbles with the words, “You kissed me and now you won't take responsibility, you bastard?”
Between them lie a blood feud, the suspicions of imperial power, and the blades of a world arrayed against them. But he says, “Whatever you want to do, I'll be with you. Whatever you want back, I'll get it for you.”
Ten years ago, in the rain, I saved your life. Ten years later, in a city, you protect me for the rest of mine.
