Political Rivals

Shangguan Fu, the Left Chancellor, and Huo Lijie, the Right Chancellor, are sworn enemies. They clash fiercely in court and trade overt and covert attacks behind the scenes, fighting as if their lives depend on it.

Shangguan Fu has been frail since childhood. Years of political battles with Huo Lijie have worn down her body, and at last, a confrontation costs her life.

Huo Lijie comes to gloat. Seeing the shattered look in Shangguan Fu's eyes, he thinks that being beautiful is one thing, but being beautiful and a little sickly makes it impossible to look away.

He is in the middle of taunting her and declaring his victory when Shangguan Fu, with her last bit of strength, kisses him hard. The unexpected turn of events is how Huo Lijie learns that the person who has opposed him in and out of court is a woman.

He exhausts every resource to save Shangguan Fu and asks her why. But as she feels her chronic illness begin to ease, Shangguan Fu only smiles and says nothing. She did it to disgust him, hoping to provoke him into giving her the medicine that would save her.

Seeing the bashful (self-)conscious look in her eyes, Huo Lijie becomes even more certain of his own conclusion: She must be in love with me.

After that, the court officials notice that the Right Chancellor no longer trades blows with the Left Chancellor. Instead, he clumsily tries to get closer to her, though the Left Chancellor has no interest and continues to deal with him ruthlessly.

Huo Lijie pays no heed to the officials' gossip. What do they know? This is just part of the romance. He even enjoys Shangguan Fu's constant attacks. But as he keeps enjoying himself, he realizes that he has lost power without even noticing.

That night, Huo Lijie barges into Shangguan Fu's room and demands angrily, "Don't you love me?"

A blade flashes from its sheath. Shangguan Fu cuts him without hesitation. "See? How could the blood running through our fingers not count as a red thread binding us together?"

Huo Lijie will never forget how deeply Shangguan Fu's mockery cut that night. He goes mad with the desire to take revenge on her, but she has already eroded and destroyed all his power.

With nothing left, Huo Lijie returns to Shangguan Fu, his pride completely broken. "I have nowhere else to go but to you."

"I've already used the trick of feigning weakness to lure my enemy in." Shangguan Fu grips his chin and looks down at him. "Now you. Kneel. Crawl in."

At first: "I hate you so much. Why don't you hate me?"

In the end: "I love you so much. Why don't you love me?"

They can't quite understand their love or their hatred. They wound each other all over again and again amid schemes and conspiracies, holding hands as they plunge knives into each other's bodies. Their blood mixes with hatred and love. Even when their hands are slippery with blood and it hurts, they still hold on tight.

[Reading Guide]

1. One-on-one romance, both leads' first relationship, happy ending.

2. The heroine and hero really do want to kill each other. The heroine cares only about power and will use anything as a tool. The hero is the type who talks himself into believing things. He doesn't mind being used by her, but when he learns that she used him and doesn't love him, he completely breaks down. He wants to clip her wings and make her his, only to realize that he's already lost to her and can do nothing but crawl around in the shadows.

3. The heroine disguises herself as a man, but resumes her identity in the middle-to-late part of the story. If you ask how she feels about the hero, put it this way: Wolves don't fall in love with sheep, only with lamb kebabs. She lives by the rule, "When your enemy is down, finish them off." The hero already lost the moment he failed to strike while she was dying. As for why it's labeled a happy ending, for the hero, it really is a happy ending. (Laughs.)

◆ The cover background is by the artist ek.

Theme: Only those who dare to act, whatever the divination says, have the right to ask what fate has in store