In her previous life, Pei Jingxu received a letter of divorce and remained a widow for three years, mourning her husband, Rong Xuanzhou, who had died in battle. But instead of finding peace, she waited for his return to the capital with another woman. That woman was Bai Shutong, who soon after arriving in the capital became the object of fierce competition among its powerful nobles. In the end, Pei Jingxu was drowned in a lotus pond by one of Bai Shutong's admirers. Only as she lay dying did she realize that she had been living inside a romance story in which everyone adored the heroine, Bai Shutong, and she was merely an obstacle on the heroine's path to winning the capital's affection. Reborn into her former life, Pei Jingxu realizes that, as the story's wicked supporting character, she must find a powerful protector before the heroine returns to the capital. Her sights therefore fall upon the Rong family's eldest young master, the exceptionally refined and graceful Rong Jianxue, the current dynasty's Junior Preceptor.