Graceful and Cultured

(This story is entirely fictional. Since it has already been completed, some mistakes in the content can no longer be fixed. Please forgive them!) >ʍ<

Historical romance, married first and falling in love later, BG, one-on-one

In the Great Yin Dynasty, Pei Wan, daughter of the Grand Tutor, marries in place of her elder sister to save her family from ruin. Her groom is Duan Yu, the Marquis of Zhenbei, famed for his coldness. Everyone knows this marriage is a union of convenience, with not a trace of affection: he is a battle-hardened marquis who commands a powerful army and strikes fear along the border, while she is a noble daughter bearing her family’s hopes, seemingly gentle but hiding a sharp edge.

On their wedding night, Duan Yu makes his position clear: “We each mind our own duties and stay out of each other’s business.” Though they live under the same roof, they are strangers to each other. Pei Wan keeps her feelings in check and treads carefully in the marquis’s residence, navigating the complicated household rivalries while secretly seeking a way to protect her family. Duan Yu, meanwhile, is occupied with court politics and border defense, indifferent to his wife in name and treating her as no more than a “decoration” sent by her family.

But as time passes, the edges beneath the surface begin to show. Her composure when she takes an arrow meant for him; his quiet protection when others make things difficult for her. The unexpected insight she displays in matters of state; the lamp he leaves burning for her when he returns late at night... Beneath the ice, affection begins to grow.