The Decree to Claim You

In her previous life, Princess Chen Luanzhao surrendered her family’s military power to marry the man she loved, only to be poisoned on a snowy night by her husband and elder brother, who had joined forces.

As she lay dying, the only one who came to claim her body was the lowborn, soft-spoken young male companion she had once bought on a whim: A Ruan.

He served her enemies and carved a path through them with his blood, killing every one of her foes, yet he dared not die beside her tombstone. “This slave is too filthy. I’m afraid I’d defile Your Highness’s road to the underworld.”

When Luanzhao opened her eyes again, she had returned to the time before she surrendered her military power.

This time, she wanted no romance, only power.

Yet even more, she wanted the young male companion who had risked his life for her to live free of worry and keep smiling as he always had.

And so, amid storms in the court and bloodshed across the land, she bound her hair beneath a golden crown and calmly moved the pieces on the board.

He wore plain robes stained with blood, softly calling her “Your Highness,” yet in the dead of night, his ears would quietly turn red.

She knew how insecure he was, and how afraid he was of being unclean, so every night she teased him until he had nowhere left to retreat. “A Ruan, I love the softest soul in this world: you.”

One day, with rebel forces at the city gates, he wielded his zither like a blade, and she offered him an empire as a bride-price.

Amid the begonias, she kissed away his tears. “In this life, I bow only to you.”