A thief who is forced into a deadly game of cat and mouse with a terrible emperor... the challenge: kill him and be set free in 14 days... or die. Shin Lina is a famous thief and assassin known as the Reaper of Sunho. She is the last of her gang... her family... they all were killed by the man that has captured her and forced her to work for him. He threatens to kill her little sister if she does not comply, so when he forces her to steal a priceless tapestry from a Dokkaebi (Goblin) she does... only to be faced with even deadlier consequences as this long thought to have been gone god has come back to claim her to face his wrath after stealing from him. Rui just so happens to be the emperor... and the legendary Pied Piper, a god who can play a flute that controls people... and he has offered her a chance to win back her life: if she kills him in 14 days. Killing an immortal god should be easy for someone like her right? It doesnt help that he kidnapped her crime boss ( despite her wanting to kill that man herself) but her current employers are threatening to kill her sister if she doesn’t return him in 30 days... she’s running on two timers. But trapped in an unknown kingdom, with a mysterious emperor who wants her to kill him yet is taking her to fancy dinners, balls, moonlight walks, and horse rides around his kingdom... something is going on and Lina is going to unravel it. Besides the infuriating and handsome Rui challenging her, Lina also finds herself in the middle of a revolution.... yet who can she trust? Can she allow herself to open up after all the pains that haunt her, after all the trauma and grief that lingers? This was an amazing enemies to lovers story. I adored the dynamic between Rui and Lina. Seriously Rui, I swoon for him. Their relationship was giving me Catherine x Peter vibes from The Great ( esp. season 2):

Spoiler

Shin Lina ends up falling for Rui because he’s basically in love with her. He’s constantly worried about her, looking after her health, trying to see how she feels. He wants to help her heal because they are both going through grief and they both can see it in one another. Their bickering and threatening to kill each other/ attempts at each other is just their way of flirting. When Lina ends up helping the rebels who actually turn out to be evil, she is poisoned and almost dies, but Rui gives her a toxin/medicine that heals her (she had a sword in her) and that said toxin has changed her ( literally, girlfriend can now transform into snakelike creature , i.e. scale for hand and claws) . Lina kills the rebel leader after he hurts Rui and they both agree to work together to stop the others and to help Lina get revenge. Rui brings her younger sister to her and Lina vows to get revenge against her former gang, ( she sets the crime lord free and pretends that she has died to create a false sense of safety to later go and get revenge). Rui and her have confirmed their feelings for one another and have agreed to visit one another and work together. Lina is working on her grief, promising to live for herself, to find love, to try and heal. ( Yes Queeeennn).