Shen Yan took the brunt of hidden attacks meant for Su Nian for seven years. Her scholarships, internships, and graduate-school recommendation, every bit of her "good luck," had been bought with his blood. Every smooth step she took was built on plans he had laid in secret.
He had a "Book of Shadows" that recorded every dirty secret and favor in the city. He used it to keep her safe, but the closer he got to her, the farther he had to push himself away. She thought the footsteps beneath the streetlights late at night were her imagination, and that her sudden strokes of "good luck" were the favor of fate.
Only when her father was caught up in the Qin family's plot did Su Nian stumble into the dark for the first time. She saw the blood-soaked man use his body to shield her from the final blade, and finally understood: all her "good luck" over the years had come from a shadow named Shen Yan, who had paved her path with flowers at the cost of being covered in thorns.
She pulled him out of the darkness and said, "You kept me safe and happy year after year. Let me bring light to the rest of your life."
