After the Host Chose to Stay

[Historical romance + System + angsty love + both chaste + she suffers first, then he suffers + happy ending] Liu Yingying spent more than ten years by the original novel’s male lead, Ning Yan, and finally lived to see him become emperor. Her mission was complete, and their wedding was at last at hand. On their wedding night, she turned down the System’s offer to send her back to her original world and chose to stay. She thought this would bring her the happiest ending of all. Instead, the young emperor treated her with cold indifference. He grew to despise her, took consorts into the palace and lavished favor on his beloved concubine, then forced Liu Yingying to surrender the imperial seal, driving her into a desperate corner. Powerless, she could only watch everything crumble. Staying behind went against the will of Heaven. Without the male lead’s love, even her body began to waste away day by day. At last, an autumn hunt brought a glimmer of hope... Su, the favored concubine of His Majesty, had recently gained a new maid in her service. Eloquent and quick-witted, the young woman spoke with effortless brilliance. She proposed that, with the concubine at the helm, schools for girls be opened throughout the land, female officials appointed, and women’s education promoted. She traveled across the vast realm, fighting to carve out a place for women everywhere. Amid the gossip, people often said she looked just like the late empress, who had died unexpectedly during the autumn hunt. She merely shook her head and said nothing. She no longer cared about the past. All she wanted was to go home.