[Alternate ancient setting + marriage before love + male lead falls in love at first sight + stand-in bride + both leads are each other's first and only] They said my husband was forced to marry me.
I was the most inconspicuous concubine-born daughter of the Shen family. I wore my elder sister's wedding dress and was stuffed into the bridal sedan of Lu Yunli, the powerful Grand Secretary.
The whole household waited to laugh at me, expecting that cold-faced devil to reject me and leave me to a miserable life.
But on our wedding night, he lifted my veil, his gaze gentle.
I trembled as I apologized, but he only brushed away a tear from the corner of my eye.
“Now that you've entered my household, you are my wife. No one may bully you.”
“Qingci, for all eternity, you will be the only wife I, Lu Yunli, will ever have.”
(The male lead will go on a killing spree later.)
Shen Qingci believed she had a peaceful, happy life, with a gentle, refined husband and children gathered around her knees. She didn't know the court was awash in blood, or how those who stood in her husband's way vanished overnight. All she knew was that whenever she asked him, “Are you tired?” he would say, “When I see you, I'm not tired anymore.”
On the day of the palace coup, she hid in the residence with their two children, trembling with fear. Lu Yunli returned, bloodied, and pulled her into his arms. “Don't be afraid. It's all over.”
She didn't know what he meant by “It's all over.”
But every last one of the people who had displeased him was gone.
To this day, she has no idea how many people's blood stains the hands of the man she loves.
