chapter 1

I heard the Crown Prince was a glutton.

So I devoted myself to the culinary arts, spent three years as an apprentice, and finally rose to become head chef at a restaurant. At a banquet, I slipped poison onto his plate.

Then he came down with acute gastroenteritis and did not eat a bite.

I heard the Crown Prince loved money.

So I devoted myself to martial arts until I mastered qinggong, slipped into his residence, and coated every banknote in poison.

Then his hand started hurting. Feeling lazy, he decided not to count them.

I heard the Crown Prince was a womanizer.

So I devoted myself to beauty, became the star courtesan of a pleasure house, and finally got close enough to smear poison on my lips.

Then he told me he could not perform and refused to kiss me.

By the time I finished recounting the long and painful story of my many failed assassination attempts, the guard interrogating me was so furious that he drew his blade.

“How dare you slander His Highness’s innocence out of thin air!”

“What?” I said. “Weren’t you the ones who said confession earns leniency and resistance earns severity?”

A folded fan tilted my chin upward, forcing me to meet the tall man’s eyes.

The Crown Prince had broad shoulders, a narrow waist, hair black as ink, and skin pale as snow. His gaze was impossible to read. “Tell me who sent you, and I will let you go.”

His face was inches from mine. I jerked forward and smashed my forehead into his.

Stars burst before my eyes. I clutched my aching brow—and every guard in the dungeon rushed toward me.

“Your Highness! Are you hurt?”

A small, exquisitely pale face appeared in front of me.

I sucked in a breath.

Wasn’t that my face?

“Yes!” the woman opposite me and I cried in unison.

The guards drew their swords at once. Their thick-browed leader rounded on her. “No one asked you! His Highness spared your miserable life, yet you still tried to kill him. Such ingratitude! Your Highness, I’ll cut her down right now!”

Cold light flashed along his raised blade.

What? Cut me down?

“No!” the woman opposite me and I shouted together.

I stared at her.

She stared back.

And we both realized something terrible.

We had switched bodies.

The reigning Emperor was advanced in years, and the Crown Prince and the Sixth Prince were the two leading contenders for the throne. Before the true heir was decided, one of them was bound to meet with disaster.

The Sixth Prince had sent me to assassinate the Crown Prince.

I simply had not expected the first one to meet with disaster to be me.

After calming the guards, I planned to spend the night in the Crown Prince’s bedchamber, then return to the dungeon the next morning and work out this awkward situation with him.

But just as I lay on his enormous bed, marveling at how a quilt could be so soft and a mattress so wide, two arrows hissed down from the eaves.

That woke me right up. I reached for some water to steady my nerves, only for my wrist to tremble as I lifted the teapot. A drop landed on the purple-gold sandalwood table and quickly burned a hole through it.

I had no words.

That very night, I gathered up my bedding and returned to the dungeon where the assassin was being held.

The Crown Prince was sleeping soundly. I shook him awake, tears streaming down my face. “Your Highness, let’s switch back right now!”

Lou Guanshan ignored me. For the past year, he had hardly slept through a single night. Too many assassins wanted him dead—commoners, wandering martial artists, even people from inside the palace. Now that he finally had the chance to sleep in peace, he insisted everything could wait until morning.

Clutching a gold-embroidered mandarin-duck pillow, I curled up miserably at the foot of the bed and fell asleep.

The guards woke me the next morning.

Guard Lin had arrived for duty and discovered me sharing a bed with the female assassin from the night before. His expression became indescribable.

“Your Highness, you… you actually…”

No. Wait. Let me explain.

The guards filed out with bright red faces.

I turned to Lou Guanshan, who was yawning as he enjoyed the show. “Why were they looking at me like a pack of degenerates?”

He gave me an enigmatic smile and pointed below my waist.

Only then did I notice the tightness in my lower abdomen. I looked down and found that the fellow down there had risen in magnificent spirits to greet both Lou Guanshan and me.

I punched Lou Guanshan. “Shameless!”

His face said, What does this have to do with me?

My hand went down, trembling, then came back up, still trembling.

“Your Highness, why… why are you like this?”

Lou Guanshan folded his arms, perfectly at ease. “Like what?”

My voice dwindled to a mosquito’s buzz. “It’s… you know…”

Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that this would be the first thing I did as a man.

Lou Guanshan fell silent. He studied me with extraordinary gravity, starting to speak and stopping several times before finally letting out a long breath.

“You’re finished. If anyone finds out about this, the stain on your honor will never wash away.”

I had wanted to walk proudly out of the Crown Prince’s residence. I had not wanted the fellow below my waist to walk proudly out with me.

I was one step from clinging to Lou Guanshan’s leg and begging. “What do I do? Push it down?”

His mouth twitched. “Are you trying to end my bloodline?”

“Then you do it!”

He raised one brow. His suggestive gaze drifted between his own hands and my trousers. “Are you sure?”

I punched him again. “Pervert!”

Lou Guanshan had no words.

After a patient explanation from him, I learned that when a man woke in such a condition, he only needed to rest for a little while and calm down.

We sat staring at each other. When there was still no sign of it subsiding, I glared at him. He, however, looked pleased.

“What do you know? That is a man’s pride.”

“You’re twenty-three and still unmarried,” I said. “Have you pent yourself up so long that your body has gone wrong? Maybe…”

His expression darkened.

With the utmost sincerity and caution, I offered a suggestion. “Why don’t we go relieve some heat?”

His mouth twitched again. His answer was admirably concise.

“Shut up.”

Our most urgent problem was switching back.

Over the guards’ objections, I announced that I had fallen in love with the female assassin and thereby brought Lou Guanshan to my side.

He led me through the twists and turns of the Crown Prince’s residence until we reached a towering library pavilion. Hands clasped behind his back, he said, “This place is older than my grandfather. It may contain some record of cases like ours.”

We exchanged a look and searched without food or sleep for three days and nights. At last, we found something relevant.

Long ago, a king in a foreign land had switched bodies with one of his guards. They had restored themselves by performing deep artificial respiration.

Lou Guanshan turned the book this way and that, amusement playing on his lips. “Why dress it up in such proper language? It means kissing.”

He stroked my chin, coaxing me. “One kiss, and it will be over.”

I refused with all the righteousness at my command. “What if we kiss and don’t switch back? Then you’ll have taken advantage of me for nothing.”

Laughter gleamed in his eyes as he slowly leaned closer. “Since we have changed bodies, wouldn’t you be the one taking advantage of this helpless woman?”

One reason I had failed to kill Lou Guanshan so many times was his peerless qinggong. Even as we spoke, he closed the distance in a few ghostlike steps. I retreated until my back struck a high bookcase and volumes cascaded down behind me.

A heavy ancient tome hurtled toward Lou Guanshan’s head. Alarmed, I used my borrowed height to pull him into my arms and shielded him from the falling book with my back.

He looked up at me, black eyes fixed intently on my face.

Seeing him unharmed, I relaxed. Thank goodness my original head had not been hit. I would need it after we switched back. What would I do if my own head got smashed stupid?

Then Lou Guanshan’s arms wound around my neck like snakes, trapping me in place.

“You delivered yourself right into my arms,” he murmured. “How adorable.”

My spine stiffened. “You did that on purpose?”

“Don’t be afraid. One kiss, and we’ll be ourselves again.”

My own face drew closer and closer. Just as I was about to lose my first kiss, guards surged in from every direction and surrounded Lou Guanshan with drawn swords.

“Insolence! How dare you molest His Highness in broad daylight!”

I had no words.

Neither did Lou Guanshan.