In the bitter winter of the third year of Dayue, Yan prince hostage Xiao Yan Heng fell into an icy lake. A "mute" attendant pulled him out. His name was Wei Zhao. He would hide slices of meat beneath the rice porridge, chop wood late at night, and write "worth it" in the snow.
Years later, Xiao Yan Heng ascended the throne, and Wei Zhao helped him seize the realm, but could not win a single sincere word for himself. Suspicion in court and slander drove them apart, until the emperor himself brought a cup of poisoned wine to Wei Zhao.
Wei Zhao smiled as he drained it. "The greatest mistake of my life wasn't miscalculating a move. It was falling in love first."
Xiao Yan Heng had calculated everything in his life, except for one thing: that Wei Zhao would really leave.
Fortunately, all the miles of this realm were worth less than the hands that had held him up in that icy lake. It took him ten years to learn how to speak, and the rest of his life to learn how to make someone stay.
Theme: The struggle between power and true feeling. An emperor can conquer the realm, but he cannot conquer his own heart when he loves someone.
