Palace Bones at Play

The year the entire Shen family was destroyed, Shen Qingci escaped death through a crack in the executioner's block.

She concealed her name and entered the palace, serving as a maid for three years. She kept her talents hidden and sanded away her edges, asking only to survive in the man-eating imperial palace and find a chance to overturn the monstrous injustice done to her family.

Everyone says that the Seventh Prince, Xiao Jingyuan, is an idle wastrel who indulges in romance, the most insignificant pawn in the struggle for the throne.

Only Shen Qingci knows that mountains and rivers are hidden in his eyes, and a game of strategy in his heart.

Murderous schemes lurk at every step within the palace, while layers of power and counterbalance govern the court.

Consorts are pieces on the board, officials are pawns, and the emperor is the cooking pot. All living beings are trapped in the blazing fire of imperial power.

She uses the confines of the inner palace to break the court's tangled schemes;

he conceals his ambitions for half a lifetime, then claims the world.

At first, they are pawns who benefit one another, then confidants who would die for each other, and at last, sovereign and subject of the realm.

Everyone says the imperial palace is the most heartless place of all.

Yet amid the game played by countless people, the two of them make the one true bond.

There is no growing old together in the palace, and no end to political schemes. Only their hearts and bones remain true to the realm.