[Love at first sight, everyday life, delicate heroine, not a strong female lead, both pure, faithful to one another]
A hostage prince saving money to raise an army x a cowardly, beauty-loving real princess
When Zhao Mingshu woke up, she discovered she was living inside a novel about competing for the throne. She was the spoiled princess who bullied the hostage prince and wouldn’t survive past the early chapters.
The male lead, Xie Linyuan, was a fallen prince sent to the enemy state as a hostage. He endured humiliation for ten years, secretly gathered his old followers, then fought his way into the capital, founded a dynasty, and became emperor, with a harem of three palaces and six courtyards.
As for Zhao Mingshu, she was the one who poured spoiled rice into his bowl when he was a hostage and whipped him in the street. The day the city fell, she was the first to be dragged away for punishment.
The story had only reached chapter three. The man who would one day conquer her homeland was kneeling outside her princess residence, with shards of porcelain scattered beneath his knees.
Zhao Mingshu looked at his face, then at her whip.
Either way, she was going to die.
She hauled him to his feet and announced to the whole capital, “This hostage prince is coming into my residence as my male pet.”
From then on, every time she summoned him to attend her, she tossed him a handful of gold leaves, as a reward.
Xie Linyuan accepted them without hesitation.
He really was short on money, and every gold leaf became provisions and weapons for his old followers.
After a year of absurd days, Zhao Mingshu realized that this man didn’t seem to plan on killing her. She even began to hope that when the city fell, he might leave her whole corpse.
Then the city really did fall.
Cavalry stormed into the capital, and the flames lit up half the princess residence. She clutched her last bag of gold leaves as she sat on her bed, waiting for him to settle the score.
Xie Linyuan only straightened her collar and ordered his guards to surround the residence, leaving no way in or out.
Then he bent down and kissed her.
