The Top Scholar Turned Traitor

A battle-hardened woman general x a patient, scheming top scholar

Marriage first, love later | A powerful duo | A triumphant reversal

After three years spent pacifying the Japanese pirates, I returned victorious with my robe soaked in blood, only to find that His Majesty feared my power. An imperial decree arranged for me to marry a frail new top scholar.

On our wedding night, I looked at the refined, scholarly man before me and told him plainly, "If you ever fall for someone else, I'll ask His Majesty to grant us a divorce. I won't stand in your way."

At the time, I thought it was merely a political marriage in which we each got what we wanted. I had no idea that the man beside me had long been hiding his true nature.

For two years, I guarded the frontier while he stayed by my side as my companion. His cool gaze always held a gentle smile, and he played the delicate, willow-like scholar to perfection. But on the day the new emperor ascended the throne, a charge of treason suddenly fell upon me. I was thrown into prison, unable to defend myself.

Just as I thought I was doomed, the thunder of armor resounded outside the Imperial Study.

The top scholar I'd taken for a frail scholar strode in wearing silver armor, sword in hand, leading a hundred thousand troops. He burst through the doors and pointed his sword at the new emperor on the throne, his voice ringing across the world: "Your Majesty, I am the traitor."

Theme: The one you love lies beyond mountains and seas