The Bride-to-Be's Trial

After treading carefully in the princess's residence for five years, Zhao Jiuyuan thought there was no hope of turning her life around. Unexpectedly, she was chosen as a trial-marriage maid.

Fate had a cruel sense of humor. The man she was to marry was Xie Chenming, the enemy who had caused her family to be destroyed all those years ago.

The boy he had once been was gone. He had transformed into the powerful General of the North, whose influence reached across the court.

On the night of the trial marriage, red candles flickered as the man looked down at her with eyes sharp as blades, scrutinizing her without recognizing the face he had once personally cast into the abyss.

Powerless to take revenge, Zhao Jiuyuan could only grit her teeth and swallow her hatred, hoping the trial marriage would end soon so she would never have to see him again.

She dared not fall for him. All she wanted was to use him and get away from him.

But Xie Chenming refused to let her go.

He thought this trial-marriage maid was merely a shallow woman who would betray anyone for gain.

But when he saw that she was willing to give her life for her younger brother, he realized she had a heart, too.

She avoided him at every turn as if he were a venomous snake or scorpion, but he kept closing in on her.

Until, on a rainy night, he gripped her wrist, his eyes swirling with an obsession as deep as the abyss.

"Zhao Jiuyuan, did you really think... I wouldn't recognize you?"

At last, he remembered that she had once saved him.

But what greeted him was a sword thrust at him, brimming with her hatred.