After Seducing My Aloof Imperial Brother

*A two-faced, unhinged crown prince x a timid, stuttering princess desperate to survive

*Ji Yue

Ji Ning's life had been truly difficult.

Her mother died young, she had no favor from her father, and she was sent as a hostage to a foreign land, where she endured endless cold looks. She grew up a pitiful little thing, speaking in a soft, trembling stammer.

When she came of age, her homeland took her back, only to send her off in a political marriage to a tyrant who took pleasure in killing.

Ji Ning didn't want to die.

She had no choice but to grab hold of a lifeline.

She chose her elder brother, the crown prince Ji Yue, praised throughout the court and land as a noble and refined man of impeccable character.

*

Crown Prince Ji Yue was disciplined and courteous, extraordinarily talented, and radiant as the bright moon above the clouds. Across the Six Kingdoms, everyone praised him as their future sage ruler.

At the palace banquet held to celebrate Ji Ning's return, she had once seen him seated high above the rest, his bearing unmatched.

She thought that if she could gain even a little of his protection, perhaps she could win herself a chance to survive.

*

Unfortunately, the crown prince was warm and proper. He accepted the pastries and sachets Ji Ning sent him with gentle courtesy, but never followed up.

Her wedding date was approaching. Since her imperial brother had no intention of helping her, she would have to find another way. She began trying to learn about the tyrant's temperament and study ways to flatter him, hoping that might win her a slim chance of survival.

That night, she returned to the palace exhausted and was horrified to see someone sitting by her bed, sniffing her undergarment.

When she came in, the crown prince, usually so elegant and refined, raised his eyes. All warmth had vanished from his gaze, leaving only a heavy, dark intensity.

"Ningning has been clever since she was little," he said softly, but with an unmistakable, obsessive insistence. His cool fingertips touched her cheek and pressed into her lower lip, igniting a smoldering fire. "Would you let your elder brother see what Ningning has been learning?"

*

When they first met as children, Ji Yue held her hand and patiently listened to her stammer out, "O... older brother."

Over the years that followed, Ji Yue clasped her fingers in his as they lay beneath the red spring curtains, waiting for her to call out again and again, breathless and helpless, "Older brother..."

*

She only wanted his protection, but he had long since become insatiable.

1. Both leads are each other's only partners, with a pure, pseudo-sibling relationship. This is essentially a very sweet story, so all you sweet-toothed readers are welcome to dig in!

2. This man really is full of contrasts: extremely two-faced, repressed, manipulative, and a madman.

3. An elder brother is an elder brother; an elder brother can't become a husband... I forget the rest... In short, an elder brother is a husband!

4. The leads grew up together as children, with the hero caring for the heroine for years as her elder brother. They are not blood-related. The heroine is a member of the imperial clan, and the hero is a direct member of the royal family. They have no blood or family ties that would make marriage impermissible.

5. Please, please, please, please, I'm begging on my knees, rolling around, crying, and blowing kisses for your support!

Theme: Persevere.