The whole city says Feng Yuan, the illegitimate daughter of the prefect, is the most cherished young woman in the capital.
The prefect dotes on her and keeps her in the palm of his hand. Everyone envies her good fortune.
But no one knows that beneath her dazzling facade lies a secret she must hide: she is not the prefect’s daughter at all,
but the secret child of the empress dowager and Chancellor Wen.
The prefect has received the empress dowager’s favor time and again, and has devoted everything to keeping Feng Yuan safe and ensuring she grows up without a care.
But the people in the household are treacherous. Her legitimate elder sister, Feng Ying, has long despised her for her natural beauty and for monopolizing everyone’s affection.
Feng Ying secretly drugs the wine, personally destroying her half-sister’s chastity.
After one reckless night, Feng Yuan and the shadow guard Ye Lan become entangled in passion.
The next morning, she wakes from her dreams and goes alone to demand justice,
but Feng Ying turns on her, imprisons her, and forces her to drink poisonous wine that burns like ice.
As her insides are ravaged and she hovers at death’s door, the silent shadow guard, dragged into ruin by her and bound to her by one night of passion, breaks through layer after layer of encirclement. Blood staining the palace steps, he races to her side.
He casts aside the fate of a hidden guard and throws away his solitary life.
At her cold side, he dies with her.
Amid a sea of blood, Ye Lan bends over and embraces her cooling body, his voice hoarse, his devotion etched into his bones.
“I’m sorry. I came too late.”
“On the road to the underworld, I won’t run off again. In every life, I’ll watch over you alone.”
