Shen Weihe struggled to survive in the Cold Palace. She nearly died after scavenging half a piece of coal, until Pei Zhaoxue, the Chief Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, sent her a basket of silver-bone charcoal. Everyone else said she had won the favor of a powerful man, but she knew it was a shackle meant to bind her.
The old case of her elder sister's death in the Cold Palace was riddled with suspicious details. Pei Zhaoxue held all the truth in his hands, yet stopped her from investigating at every turn, cold and severe, keeping her under his thumb step by step.
She feared him to her core and hated his ruthlessness. She stayed on guard against him at every turn, determined to expose the truth behind the fire all those years ago.
Only when the mystery was finally unraveled did she learn that in the palace fire that had consumed everything, the one who sacrificed half a lifetime of divine essence, shouldered all the blame, and endured the flames alone had never been her deceased sister. It had been Pei Zhaoxue.
He had kept her confined only to ensure her peace for three lifetimes, bearing all their bloody vendettas alone.
In the beginning, the male lead is cold and abstinent, while the heroine is consumed by hatred. Later, he chases after his wife in a desperate attempt to win her back. A tragic romance with mutual salvation.
Back then, she had knelt to accept the charcoal he bestowed upon her. When the palace fire blazed anew, she plunged into the flames with her bare hands and dragged him, his body covered in wounds, out of the inferno.
“Pei Zhaoxue, this time, I’m the one taking you with me.”
