The Breeze Cannot Part These Brows

One is famous throughout the land, while the other lives under someone else’s roof. The day they first met, he was a groom in an embroidered red wedding robe, his hair bound beneath a jeweled crown. She was the bride’s dowry maid. No one knew why, during the ceremony when the couple bowed to each other, he deliberately turned away from the bride and bowed deeply to her in front of the guests. He was charming and elegant; she was meek and obedient. While plotting his moves at court and helping the emperor contend for power with the empress dowager, who ruled from behind the curtain, he pursued her relentlessly. No one knew whether his feelings were sincere or whether he only wanted to elevate her and use her as a pawn to test the waters. He repeatedly professed his love for her, yet callously married again and again. His actions were like an unsolvable game of chess, as if, in the silence, he had already set a brilliant trap in motion. No one knew whether, for the sake of his own heart, stirring for the first time, he would ultimately give her the ending she wanted most.