In her previous life, she drank poison and died, and the entire Shen family was executed. In this life, she voluntarily enters the prince's residence as his consort, appearing gentle and frail while secretly planning every step, all to protect her good-for-nothing younger brother and the Shen family.
He has been reborn, too.
In their previous life, Xiao Che only realized he had long been deeply in love with her after she died. In this life, he watches coldly as she enters his residence and puts on an act, waiting for her to slip up. Yet her hot-and-cold manner draws him in once more.
She never makes the first move, never explains, and never refuses. He presses her at every turn, only sinking deeper. They use each other and test each other, their love as sharp as a knife, every cut drawing blood.
A greater conspiracy has long been set in motion: Shen Xinglan's playboy ways are a disguise. His true identity is a top-level spy planted in the capital by the enemy nation of Great Yan, codenamed "Ink Crow"; the military tally case escalates at every turn, from childish mischief to rebellion, then from rebellion to treason; and the hand of the mastermind, the Celestial Mechanism Pavilion, has already reached into the palace, the prince's residence, and the Shen family.
She is protecting her brother. He is protecting her. And her brother is bringing down the entire country.
As mask after mask is torn away, she finally discovers that the person she most wants to protect is the very blade aimed at the entire Shen family.
And Xiao Che's secrets, the old letter from his previous life, and his words, "If there is another life, I'll set you free," are they proof of his love, or part of an even greater scheme?
The caged bird: who has trapped whom?
After living two lives, can they defy fate and change their destinies, or will they end up imprisoned once more?
In a word: Two people reborn each believe they are the ones moving the pieces, never realizing that from the moment they entered the game, they were both pieces and calamities in each other's lives.
