One Little Gesture from Her, and the Emperor Comes Running

[Unconventional palace intrigue + winning her back without groveling + both leads have no romantic past + the hero wins himself over + happy ending]

[Shrewd, fallen beauty × calm, restrained emperor]

After a defeat in battle, Pei Yunheng, an unloved princess, was sent to marry into the enemy state.

The peaceful life she had hoped for was shattered. If that was how things stood, she would throw herself into the game and put an end to the humiliations and insults of the past.

*

Jiang Xuanhe looked at his empress. He had gone to great lengths to win her, and couldn’t help drawing closer. Though he knew she had ulterior motives for approaching him, he still helplessly fell for her.

Pei Yunheng, princess of Nanqi, was renowned throughout the land for her beauty.

When Emperor Jiang Xuanhe of Beiyi heard his friends tease him about her, he replied, “What does her beauty have to do with me?”

Later, after marrying Pei Yunheng, he said, “My wife is beautiful. I was blind not to see it.”

Note: This is not a story about a strong female lead, and it does not have much palace intrigue. The hero is calm and restrained in public, but in private he obsessively talks himself into falling in love and goes crazy for her.