Before the Executioner's blade

Këlly LGBT+

Before the Executioner's Blade
Shen Yichen has always known his place.
The illegitimate son of a powerful Imperial Advisor, he grew up in his own father's household like a servant—never quite family, never quite free. The only people who ever treated him differently were his two stepbrothers.
Then a mysterious jade pendant leads Yichen into the Imperial Palace, where he discovers that his dead mother left behind secrets powerful enough to get people killed.
An encounter with the Fourth Prince pulls him deeper into a world of forbidden attraction, court intrigue, and dangerous alliances. The more Yichen searches for answers, the more he realizes that someone has been hiding the truth from him for years.
But the palace isn't the only place where secrets are buried.
Someone inside his own family knows what happened to his mother.
Someone is watching his every move.
And someone he trusts may already be hiding a terrible secret.
As love, ambition, power, and betrayal collide, Yichen must uncover the truth before it costs him everything.
Because twenty-two-year-old Shen Yichen will eventually stand before the executioner's blade.
The question is not how he got there.
It's who wanted him there—and what secret he discovered along the way.

Unfold