She is the “heir” to the Prince of Zhenbei’s household in the Great Liang dynasty, a woman disguised as a man and defending the border in her father’s place.
He is the Prince of the Southern Court of Northern Di, a wickedly charismatic warrior with countless victories to his name.
Three years ago, her brother died on the battlefield. She watched his sword pierce her brother’s chest with her own eyes.
Over the next three years, they met on the battlefield seventeen times. Each time, he captured her, then sent her back without a scratch.
Everyone said he was humiliating her. She, too, thought it was a game of cat and mouse.
Until she uncovered his secret on Hawk’s Beak Ridge:
The bronze button sewn over the heart of his battle robe was a keepsake from her brother, taken before he died.
He had recovered her brother’s body and secretly watched over her, spending three years keeping a promise he had made to the dead.
Now he is afflicted with the deadly poison Lovesick Ash. It will soon take effect, and he has little time left.
His only remaining wish is to spend his last two months teaching her how to survive on the battlefield, how to stop relying on others for protection.
She doesn’t believe in fate. She says two months isn’t enough, so make it four. If four months aren’t enough, then a year. If a year isn’t enough, then a lifetime.
In a secret chamber in Northern Di’s royal city, she finds six words: “Lovesick Ash can be cured by longing.”
The antidote isn’t a medicine. It’s her.
She must enter the curse known as the “Illusory Path” and recognize him within it.
She can’t recognize him with her eyes. She has to recognize him with her heart.
If she gets it wrong, they’ll both be trapped there forever. If she gets it right, he can live.
But the Illusory Path forces her to relive the very moment her brother died by his sword.
How can she recognize the person she loves most in this life amid memories awash with hatred?
