Bright and Clear

Wen Jiaojiao had known since childhood that her younger sister was more talented than she was, and wrote better poetry.

So when the Crown Prince chose his bride, she secretly switched her name card with her sister's and was chosen in her sister's place to become the Crown Princess.

On her wedding day, the husband whose hand she held was as steadfast as a solitary pine, with the grace of rosy clouds and the elegance of moonlight. He sat in the Eastern Palace, the rising sun of the empire.

Meanwhile, her sister was locked in the woodshed, listening to the clamor of drums and gongs outside.

Wen Jiaojiao took it upon herself to marry her sister off to the lame Fifth Prince. Taciturn and dull, he was mediocre and inept, and was soon sent away to a bitterly cold fiefdom.

Her sister would surely never see the Crown Prince again in this lifetime.

Late one night, beneath the warm bed curtains, Wen Jiaojiao leaned against the Crown Prince's chest and asked if he knew her sister. His brows softened as he kissed the corner of her eye, saying only, "Why bring up someone who has nothing to do with us?"

Until one day, her sister secretly came to the capital and shattered the silence.

In front of everyone, she exposed Wen Jiaojiao for switching the name cards and poisoning the Crown Prince.

Across the steps of the Golden Hall, Wen Jiaojiao met the Crown Prince's dark, fathomless gaze and did not utter a word in her defense.

That night, a fire broke out in the Eastern Palace. The flames would not die down, and the Crown Princess who had plotted to murder her husband was burned to ashes along with her bedchamber.

The Crown Prince stood with disheveled hair, his face like a demon's, the mask of the empire's shining light completely stripped away.

With a bloodstained sword in hand, he found her sister, seized her by the throat, and said through gritted teeth, "If you can write poetry in her place, why can't you die in her place?"

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