This book contains quite a few scenes of the male lead being put through the wringer later on. Male-lead fans, proceed with caution!!!
A marriage alliance with a twist + a concubine-minded male lead + a shameless female lead
[Defeated nation's prince sent to marry for peace vs. radiant, spoiled little princess]
[Both leads are chaste + tortured romance + national vengeance + love and hatred intertwined]
In the thirty-third year of Taihe, Nan Tang was defeated and sent a prince to Luojing to seal a marriage alliance.
The most spoiled princess of Da Jing, Zhaoyang, fell in love at first sight with a boy from a fallen kingdom, peering at him from behind the beaded curtain of Qiyun Pavilion.
He leaned against an old couch, wearing a faded outer robe. His skin was pale, like a piece of jade buried in the snow for a long time.
She thought she was raising a gentle little fox. She brought him milk candies, shielded him from the blades of court politics, and built an ugly snowman with him in the middle of a blizzard.
She even gave him a courtesy name: Laiyi.
When the Shao music sounds nine times, the phoenix comes to rest.
But when a little fox has healed, it will run away.
That year, he vanished from the imperial palace of Da Jing. The next time she heard of him, he had returned to his kingdom, seized the throne, and killed his own father.
Later, he led his army north and trampled her homeland beneath his boots.
She stood amid the ruins, watching him clad in black armor, a long sword in his hand.
Suddenly, she remembered the Lantern Festival that year, when she had asked him through the beaded curtain, “What is your name?”
He had answered, “Yan Lin.”
The swallow arrives gracefully, then leaves.
Her words had become an omen.
(This story is entirely fictional. Please don't associate it with any historical figures or dynasties. Nan Tang is purely a coincidence. It was originally Nan Tang, but there was a typo and I didn't feel like correcting it, so it became Nan Tang! Please don't connect it to the real history of Nan Tang, thank you 🙏)
It's very beautiful. Come on, teacher, the settings are very good. Taking a closer look at Yan Lin's name again, could it be that the author had the ending in mind from the beginning? "Swallows arrive gracefully, and then leave", which is a prophecy. He went from being a hostage in a subjugated country to becoming the most powerful person in the world. He killed his father and destroyed his homeland with his own hands. Behind the mysterious sword, there was no longer the girl who would accompany him in the heavy snow to build an ugly snowman and call him "Laiyi".
It's really super good-looking. I was stunned by the scene where the male protagonist mutilates himself!