A Face of Regret: My Wife Comes from the Misty South

Zhao Congyuan, the legitimate daughter of the Prince Yi's household and a beauty from Jiangnan, × Pei Xuancheng, the inscrutable Grand Tutor of the Marquis's household

Pei Xuancheng once had a dream. In it, a night of passion lingered in his mind, and the red mole on a woman's back had captured his heart. He loved to trace the tiny cinnabar mark as he drifted off to sleep. But in the blink of an eye, the clink of sword pendants accompanied his steps across the jade palace tiles, and his robes carried the scent of incense from the imperial brazier. On the night of the palace coup, he died horribly in the struggle among the six princes for the throne, and his wife soon followed him, her life snuffed out like a fading fragrance.

Pei the Grand Tutor had never believed in the Buddha's lamp or been entangled in romantic affairs. Yet from then on, a crack appeared in his heart...

Just then, the emperor arranged a marriage for him. His bride was the neglected legitimate daughter of the Prince Yi's household, raised among the misty rains of Jiangnan. Her skin was as smooth and pure as ice and jade, her delicate beauty like that of a goddess descended to earth.

But Pei Xuancheng had an important mission to fulfill, and he truly did not know whether loving her would bring her happiness or ruin her.

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“Children would only give me another weakness to exploit. I, Pei Xuancheng, live with a blade at my throat. I have no need of them.”

But tenderness could wound more deeply than any blade. Zhao Congyuan did her best to play the part of a good wife, even when faced with a heart of ice.

“Yuanyuan, have a child with me.”

At last, his wish came true. Trembling, he cradled their newborn.

“Yuanyuan, even after I die, someone will wave a spirit-summoning banner for me...”