Long-form novel: [Historical Romance and Political Intrigue + Marriage Before Love + Postmarital Power Struggles + Turning the Tables on an Old Case]
The day the Shen family fell into trouble, everyone waited to watch me sink into the mud. But the Prince of Jing, a powerful man known for his coldness and lack of affection, suddenly asked for my hand in marriage.
Others said I was reaching above my station, and that the prince pitied me.
Only I knew he didn't want me. He wanted the clue in my hands, the one that could bring an old case back to light.
So I married him.
On our wedding night, he laid out his terms. In public, he and I played the devoted couple to perfection. In private, we each had our own agenda, testing one another and refusing to show our hand.
But the deeper I dug, the more I realized that the old case involved far more than the Shen family's misfortune. And he was hiding more than just his desire to investigate.
Later, when the tides of power turned and blades closed in, I finally understood: this marriage was never about one of us saving the other. It was about two schemers trapped by the same abyss, slowly giving up their hearts along the way.
