A Pact of Thorns

[Marriage Before Love + Chasing His Wife to the Crematorium + 1v1 + Both Chaste + Healing Each Other] Wen Ruan married the man she had secretly loved for ten years. It should have been the start of a happy life. But only after the wedding did she learn that marriage would do nothing to change the fact that he didn’t love her. Wen Ruan knew she looked about fifty percent like the woman he cherished, but she never expected him to find a substitute who looked seventy percent like her and brazenly keep her by his side every day. Wen Ruan signed the divorce papers, leaving the past behind and fearing nothing the future might bring. Everyone thought Wen Ruan and Shi Cen’an had no love in their marriage, that neither of them cared for the other, and that they would both be better off divorcing soon and finding true love elsewhere. But then one day, Shi Cen’an suddenly changed completely. He clung to Wen Ruan and tore up dozens of copies of the divorce papers. The aloof, arrogant eldest son of the Shi family brought her all the memories of his secret love for her over the years and pleaded again and again, “I’m sorry, Wen Ruan. I’ve loved you for nearly twenty years.” Shi Cen’an was born into a wealthy family. Unlike the other young masters of the capital’s elite circles, he was held to strict standards from childhood. His life consisted of studying, studying, and more studying. Then Wen Ruan appeared in his world, bright as a little sunflower. She was mired in hardship, her circumstances even more wretched than his, yet she always loved to smile. That smile became a rare comfort in his lonely world. But from childhood, he had been destined to marry her older sister, so he carefully kept his secret love hidden in his heart for more than a decade. Then one day, he really did get to marry her. He thought she didn’t love him. He thought she wanted to escape… [Proud young master of the capital’s elite circles vs. cool, gentle little white flower who grew up in the shadow of her sickly, possessive twin sister]