(An alternate world! A mishmash of ancient settings, traditional historical romance, old-school but not too patriarchal, and the heroine has more than one marriage.)
Year Eight of the Qianyuan reign.
To avoid marrying the profligate fourth son of the Duke of Zhou's family, Xie Wanning agrees to an engagement with the Pei family, an old friend of her father's, hoping it will bring her some measure of security.
But before the engagement can be finalized, the Pei family bares its fangs. Her fiancé, Pei Jue, is a study companion to Prince Lian.
He approached the Xie family for its immense fortune, hidden beneath the surface, and to use the marriage to test how much Prince Lian cares about the Xie women.
Prince Lian, Gu Xingjian, is the boy who publicly splashed scalding tea on the back of her hand four years ago. Now he holds her chin, looking down at her. “You can only ever be mine.”
Prince Ding, Gu Xingbei, is the lord her father swore to follow to the death, and Prince Lian's own brother. After giving her safety and tenderness and earning her trust, he treats her as a pawn to be moved at will.
Even Prince Li, Gu Xingyao, is not the flirtatious romantic of the rumors. He is the true power behind the Pei family. After she accidentally uncovers his plans, he insists she join his cause and learn its price firsthand.
Only Prince Li, Gu Xingyue, the emperor's most favored youngest son, is different. He once gave her a hundred gold pieces and a connection through music. He showed her a respect and tenderness she'd never known, and was even willing to grant her the freedom she'd most longed for as a girl: to champion justice and wander the world.
But after everything she's been through, what she wants is no longer to escape and flee far away. She wants the power to protect the Xie family and herself, and to live openly and with dignity in Yunjing.
When sincerity intertwines with exploitation, and tenderness springs from schemes,
Xie Wanning must at last make her final choice.
The Delicate Beauty in the Cultivation World Reinvents Herself as a Seductive Black Lotus
The Hostage Prince Is the Heartthrob of the Capital
Brothers in Arms Belong Together
Beta: Always Hounded by Mad Dogs in Love
The Mad Master of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion Is Still Being Forced to Set People Up Today
After Five Years of Humiliation, the Demon Lord Discovers I'm His Beloved