Lessons in Affection

Every kiss was meant for the empress... yet every kiss belonged to him

In the heart of an empire bound by ritual and power, Emperor Wei-Yang carries a crown heavy with blood. Scarred by years on the battlefield, he cannot bring himself to touch the woman he married-the radiant empress who, denied her husband's affection, has gathered her own harem of devoted consorts.
Among them is Xing Da: proud, sharp-tongued, and her most treasured companion. When Wei-Yang begs Xing Da to teach him what the empress desires-to show him how to be gentle, how to kiss, how to love-an uneasy bargain is struck. In secret chambers, lessons unfold under the guise of duty: the emperor practicing tenderness on the very man who despises him.
Yet hatred melts into understanding, and duty is consumed by longing. Every kiss becomes harder to surrender, every stolen embrace a thread binding them tighter in a web of impossible desire. Both men remind themselves it is for the empress's sake-but the lie grows harder to believe.
In a palace where loyalty is survival and love is treason, Wei-Yang and Xing Da find themselves caught in a tragedy of their own making. To love each other is to risk ruin. To let go is to shatter their hearts.
As loyalties blur and desire burns, Wei-Yang and Xing Da must confront the truth: these lessons may ruin them both, yet neither can stop returning to the other.