I Was a Substitute for Three Years. I'm Done Acting

[Historical Romance + The Heroine’s Ex Pursues Her After the Breakup + The Substitute Awakens + Love Triangle + Monogamous HE]

Shen Wanqing, kept in the West Courtyard by Prince Jing Xiao Jingyuan, is known throughout the capital as a substitute.

Because she looks exactly like the reclusive Grand Princess Zhao Qingci, her relatives sold her into Prince Jing’s manor. There, she was stripped of her prickly defenses and taught the beloved’s accomplishments in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. She copied every smile and frown, and was even willing to take a blow meant for him.

But as poisoned wine burned her throat and she lay at death’s door, the name he called while holding her was still someone else’s.

When Zhao Qingci returned to the capital and pressed closer at every turn, Xiao Jingyuan, determined to protect the woman he loved, pushed Shen Wanqing into a death trap with his own hands. At last, Shen Wanqing woke up. She washed off the makeup that made her look like a substitute, reclaimed her name, Shen Heng, and left the manor without looking back.

The skills she had learned over three years to imitate someone else became the means by which she made a living. She opened a small studio for books and art. Her calligraphy was neater than that of the Hanlin Academy, and her paintings earned her money. Before long, she became a renowned female painter and calligrapher in Jiangnan.

When they met again, the legitimate son of the Chancellor’s family went to Prince Jing’s manor to demand justice for her, a young general from the northern frontier wanted to take her away to roam the world, and a gentle physician quietly stayed by her side, time and again.

Only then did the aloof Prince Jing tear away the beloved’s hypocritical mask and realize that the one he had lost with his own hands was the only one who had truly loved him.

He surrendered his military seal and traveled across the land. In the pouring rain, he blocked her path and pleaded with red-rimmed eyes for her to turn back.

Shen Heng brushed his hand aside and smiled faintly. “Your Highness has mistaken me for someone else. I’m done playing the substitute.”