10 parts Ongoing Cai Ruyi, the third daughter of the Cài family, has lived her life in the shadows of her father's household: branded sickly, insignificant, yet quietly enduring constant schemes and envy.
To survive, she learned to lies and pretend, keeping her secrets close and ambitions closer.
But when peace returns to the borders, survival in the capital becomes far more dangerous.
In the new dawn of the empire, every banquet is a battlefront, every proposal an hidden ambition, and unseen hands tighten their hold over the throne.
What began as family rivalries soon pulls Ruyi into a far larger game, one where the cost of a single misstep could be her freedom, her future, or her life.
And from the edge of the snowstorm comes Liu Haifeng, the exiled prince turned general. An untouchable man whose quiet return unsettles the court and stirs up past secrets.
Ruyi must decide how far she will go to protect those she loves... and what part of herself she is willing to sacrifice.