The Substitute Prince Consort Was So Beautiful, Even the Tyrant Doted on Him

[Male-Male Romance | Substitute Bride | Man Disguised as a Woman | Sickly Cannon-Fodder Bottom × Villainous Tyrant Top | Marriage First, Love Later | The Bottom Thinks He’s Awakened, but He’s Actually Transmigrated into a Book] On the way to his wedding as a substitute bride, Shen Zheyu had a dream. He dreamed that he was a cannon-fodder character in a storybook. A transparent prince born to a palace maid, he was sent to marry off in place of his elder sister to an enemy kingdom. The tyrant promptly forgot about him after he arrived. He never even got to meet the emperor, and the concubines throughout the palace made his life miserable. His sickly body couldn’t withstand the cold looks and scheming. Less than a month later, he died of sorrow, far from home. Meanwhile, his gentle and kind legitimate elder sister, Shen Mingzhu, was the story’s heroine. She avenged him, married a god of war and cured his legs, then finally killed the enemy kingdom’s tyrant with a single stroke. A moving tale that brought tears to the eyes, if only the cannon fodder hadn’t been him. Shen Zheyu: Revenge? No need. The plot? To hell with it. He clutched the script and planned everything over and over: avoid favor, pretend to be sick, and stay alive. He had every escape route mapped out. All he wanted was to keep his distance from those man-eating concubines and live to a ripe old age. But when he entered the palace, he found none of the promised three thousand beauties or deadly court intrigues. The harem was utterly deserted, without a soul in sight. And the cold, heartless tyrant, Xie Wuwang, unexpectedly appealed to him. Shen Zheyu made up his mind on the spot: He’d be a fool to turn down such overwhelming, exclusive favor. Later, Xie Wuwang accidentally found a storybook and discovered that his beloved consort was in it. Eagerly, he dragged Shen Zheyu over to read it with him. Xie Wuwang: “When did I have three thousand beauties in my harem?” Shen Zheyu: “The storybook says so. What’s that got to do with me?”