Velvet Blossoms in the Imperial City

[Older man + both devoted to each other + sweet on the outside, dark within + forced love + fictional world]

(There’s a little groveling later on. The male lead meets and falls in love with the heroine while pretending to be someone else early on, but later forces his love on her.)

*A cool, stubborn, growth-oriented heroine VS a domineering, obsessive, dangerously unhinged hero

Over the course of five years, the nation of Dongyan underwent a world-shaking overthrow of its government.

At the beginning of this period, newly adult Li Qing’an wanted nothing more than to protect her little corner of the orphanage and pursue her ideals of friendship, love, and a promising future.

But circumstances forced her hand, and the sudden approach of a man quietly changed the course of her life.

When her usually gentle and reliable lover gripped her chin, murderous intent seeping from his eyes, Li Qing’an finally realized that the man she loved had always been nothing but an illusion.

From then on, she wanted to keep her distance from him.

But the man, now done with his disguise and holding power in his hands, thought this was only the beginning...