A Substitute? No Matter, Miss Yin Only Wants to Rise to the Top

[Charming legitimate daughter (actually a ruthless pavilion master) x gentle prince (actually a scheming alliance leader)]

[The heroine deliberately seduces him; the hero falls for her with full awareness]

One-on-one romance, both are pure in body and mind, equally matched, both have secret identities.

[Fantasy setting]

When the new emperor ascended the throne, the Yin family was the most anxious of all.

That was because Old Master Yin had failed to make his position clear when the late emperor, gravely ill, issued his edict of succession.

No one had expected Prince Yi of Bingzhou to return and take the throne.

The court had settled into its new order, but no decree of punishment came. Old Master Yin consequently woke in a cold sweat every night.

Half a year later, a former student came to the residence late at night. That night, the lights in Old Master Yin's study stayed on until dawn.

That day, a letter was sent galloping out of the imperial capital.

When Liting received her grandfather's letter, she rode back to the capital without stopping. For the sake of her clan, she didn't care what kind of stand-in she had to be. She would do it.

She would marry the eldest prince, Chu Guizhou, to secure the Yin family's influence in the capital and rise to a position of power. Only then would her grandfather be safe and the younger members of the clan have a future.

With the Yin family established at court, the Shadow Pavilion of Tianya Mountain would be safe from the covetous eyes of officials.

So, after returning to the capital, she carefully arranged every chance encounter with Chu Guizhou.

"What a coincidence, Your Highness. Out for a stroll in the middle of the night?" One night, she cornered him in a dark alley and laid her blade against his neck. "No, the one here is the leader of the Longyuan Alliance. So even if I slip up, it wouldn't count as an attempt on the crown prince of Daqi, would it?"

Chu Guizhou lowered his eyes and stared at her in astonishment for a long while, then suddenly smiled. The person he had been investigating for years had been right beside him all along.

He slipped an arm around her waist and murmured, "Spare me, Pavilion Master."