[Noble young lady x teenage assassin]
Ming Zhi fell for a teenage assassin.
When she was thirteen, he saved her from a pack of wolves.
When he was badly wounded and stranded at Jintai Temple, Ming Zhi hid him and took him in. She found him the best doctor and brewed him the strongest liquor.
But the boy was like a sword that could never be warmed: keen-edged and cold.
Only when he raised his sword against her did Ming Zhi learn the truth. He had stayed by her side for the enormous bounty on her head.
*
Qi Han was the greatest assassin in the world. He had never failed to kill a target.
He accepted an enormous bounty: the life of a young noblewoman and the treasure in her possession. The girl's feelings were impossible to hide; her heart leapt with joy.
Qi Han knew she had fallen for an assassin.
Foolish.
He would never fall for anyone.
If he wanted to, he could take her life at any moment.
So when he finally raised his sword against her, Qi Han thought he had never once regretted it.
*
It was drizzling on her wedding day. Ming Zhi held a round fan as she stepped over the threshold. Her husband was the son of a merchant in town. Though they had no affection for each other, they could still treat one another with respect for the rest of their lives.
Before the wedding ceremony was complete, her husband was pierced through by a sword. Blood splashed across the fan, reflected in Ming Zhi's panic-stricken eyes.
The long sword in the boy's hand was still dripping with blood. Like a demon from the underworld, he walked toward her step by step, his gaze obsessive and crazed.
"Don't you love me? How can you marry someone else?"
Qi Han had never expected to fall for someone. She had called him by his elder brother's name from beginning to end, yet he still fell for her.
There would never again be another greatest assassin in the world. From then on, he sheathed his blade and bowed his head in submission.
* The male lead raises his sword against the female lead, but he doesn't really intend to kill her. He has his reasons.
* The female lead hasn't mistaken him for someone else. This is a false-substitute trope.
Theme: Love can bring warmth to a cold night.
