The Qinghe Chronicles

Great You has a frail, sickly, drama-loving Princess Qinghe.

Great Jin has His Highness Jing Qing'an, a gifted scholar and warrior, as cool and radiant as the moon.

With the realm unstable, wars raging, and neighboring kingdoms eyeing them hungrily, Jing Qing'an chooses the seemingly delicate but inwardly clever Princess Qinghe to be his Crown Princess.

First they have Feng Ran, who bears the destiny of a phoenix and is trying to build a harem. Then there are the various kingdoms eager to make their move. In this situation, one of them is a smooth talker, a black-hearted schemer who says one thing to your face and another behind your back, while the other openly fights for dominion over the realm.

As time passes, it seems their entanglement stretches beyond a single lifetime... The heroine is both learned and skilled in combat, and isn't afraid of hardship, but she also loves beauty and being pampered. The hero is as cool as the moon, devoted to his ambitions, and unfailingly proper with everyone. Early on, he occasionally treats the heroine differently. They both put on an act in front of others.

Jing Qing'an's gaze turned cold. He ignored Qinghe's remark. "Crown Princess, do you know why I insisted on marrying you back then?"

"Because I'm clever and capable, and breathtakingly beautiful..." Qinghe said smugly.

Well, she wasn't wrong. Qinghe thought she was beautiful and had a lovely figure. She could tell right from wrong, and be both tender and considerate or dignified and poised. Whoever married her would have an easier life.

The chill in Jing Qing'an's eyes faded somewhat at her words...

"Oh... So Your Highness doesn't have someone he loves. Then why can't anyone else enter the Eastern Palace?"

"...I don't have someone I love. More importantly, I dislike having too many people around, and doesn't the Eastern Palace already have a Crown Princess?"

"Oh..."

Qinghe didn't understand. Maybe Jing Qing'an simply hadn't met someone he loved yet. Once he did, he'd want to marry her.

At the time, Qinghe didn't give Jing Qing'an's words much thought. Years later, when she looked back on them, she finally realized what that sly fox had meant all along: since he'd married a Crown Princess, he would have no one else. In other words, he had never intended to let Qinghe go.