The Regent's Hidden Pearl

The rule was simple: In public, play the lovers. In private, remain strangers.

To the Imperial Court, she is Lady Lian, the enigmatic, masked "pearl" of the empire's most ruthless man. To the power-hungry Regent, Lord Xiao Feng, she is a dangerous asset he rescued from the northern borders, a woman whose mysteries he claims to own entirely.

But the truth is a game of vipers.

She is Lin Xia, the "dead" daughter of a disgraced minister, back from the ashes to execute a brutal revenge against the court that butchered her clan. He is the terrifying Regent, surrounded by betrayers and desperate for the military secrets she possesses. Bound by a transactional contract marriage, they must perform acts of breathless, possessive intimacy in public to fool their enemies.

The terms of their alliance are strict:
1. Treat each other with grand, doting devotion in front of the ministry.
2. Exchange stolen intelligence behind closed doors.
3. Never touch.

By day, they play the part of a deeply infatuated couple under the watchful eyes of the court. But by night, behind closed doors, the mask comes off. As the dangerous friction of their fake alliance begins to spark a real, suffocating hunger, they face a new threat: the line between acting and reality is blurring, and the fire they're playing with might just burn them both to ash.

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