As the crown prince of a fallen dynasty, He Qu had hoped to hide his identity and eke out a living in this so-called "golden age."
But fate had other plans. Through a twist of chance and a single breathtaking glance, he caught the eye of Xiao Tan, the current emperor's most favored Fifth Prince.
An imperial edict decreeing their marriage came down, and He Qu was forced into the palace. Crown and wedding robes made him a caged bird, kept in the imperial palace for the pleasure of the capital's powerful elite.
But He Qu was no pure white jasmine who meekly accepted his lot. He was a black lotus, vicious and cold by nature.
Xiao Tan ignored his wishes and forced him to become a concubine. He Qu would make Xiao Tan pay for it, a hundredfold, and reap the bitter fruit of his own actions.
He would stop at nothing to do so.
The crown prince, Xiao Yun, was said to be gentle and refined, as elegant as an orchid or a jade tree, a handsome young gentleman with a graceful bearing.
He Qu deliberately approached and used the crown prince, placing himself in the middle of a deadly game and stirring up strife within the Lie royal family. Father turned against son, brothers fought one another, and Xiao Tan died a gruesome death before He Qu's eyes.
At last, his vengeance was complete. Just as he was about to fake his death and disappear...
He discovered that
cracks had appeared in the pale jade, revealing a core as black as a mire,
one that dragged people down into its depths, leaving them struggling and unable to escape.
In a secret chamber, chains clinked softly. A slender, snow-white wrist hung limply over the edge of the bed.
Xiao Yun lowered his head and breathed in the damp strand of He Qu's dark hair. Gazing at his unfocused eyes, he murmured, "A Qu, I want to see just how much sincerity can find its way into a relationship where you and I scheme against and use each other."
A ruthless, beautiful black lotus who always gets revenge x a seemingly noble and radiant gong who is actually full of dark thoughts
Content warning: The gong has had sex before, while the shou has not. There is a cannon-fodder gong, the Fifth Prince.
An absolute beauty of a shou, with a slight everyone-loves-him tendency. Many characters fall for the shou.
A love full of pain and passion, a failed fake death, happy ending.
Synopsis recorded on 2025.08.24
Theme: Love is a rare miracle.
