Quiet One

[Black Lotus-Type Heroine x Powerful General and Duke Who Holds the Court in His Palm]

Neither lead is a virgin, and there is a large age gap.

The leads dote on each other. The hero is genuinely the father of the third male lead, appears late, and wields great power.

There are many supporting male and female characters, and plenty of melodrama. The story centers on the heroine, with a slight harem feel.

The heroine is extraordinary. She experiences other romances, faces setbacks, and gets entangled with many different people. She has plenty of scenes.

She has a morally gray personality and is not a good person in the traditional sense.

On the day Duke Jing, Xi Chong, secretly returned to the capital, he came upon a girl in the woods who had just killed someone and was lying through her teeth.

His heart stirred, but soon afterward he discovered that she was the second daughter of his longtime friend, the current prime minister.

The girl did not seem to be loved by her father. Later, Xi Chong rescued her again at a night market. Like an elder, he taught her to ride and took her out of the capital.

The spark he had felt at their first meeting had long since turned into admiration. He doted on her as if she were a child. He even considered arranging a marriage between her and his exceptional son, so he could keep her in the Duke's estate.

But he did not know when it had begun: the girl was always telling him she liked him.

Before their first kiss, Wen Ji asked Xi Chong, "My lord, aren't our feelings mutual?"

Xi Chong did not answer.

The next time he heard those words, they came from his own son, who had always scrupulously followed the rules.

Xi Shao knelt on the ground, his vision blurred, and spoke to his father seated above him. "I wish to marry Second Miss Wen."

After a long silence, Xi Chong's voice came from above, revealing no emotion. "Why?"

"Our feelings are mutual."

**

Wen Ji had discovered that no matter how hard she tried, the things she wanted were always drawn to her elder sister. There seemed to be no exceptions.

Even the lover she had secretly hidden away would fall for her elder sister and betray her after meeting her.

Everyone said that Wen Qiyu, the prime minister's eldest daughter, was a master of the four arts and the foremost talented woman of her time.

Her legitimate younger sister, Wen Ji, was like some minor young lady in a storybook, dismissed with a single line while the protagonist's social circle was being introduced.

Emotions could not solve problems, and a child who cried and made a fuss would not get any candy. After failing again and again, she learned to disguise herself and wait for her chance in the shadows.

Perhaps no one cared what a supporting character like her wanted.

Reality told her that no matter how many tricks she used, those things would never belong to her.

But so what?

There was always a way to exploit fate.

**

Before their chance encounter, Xi Shao had never truly paid attention to Wen Ji. She was Wen Qiyu's younger sister, gentle and quiet, and they rarely crossed paths.

But after that, he began to notice her.

One day, he heard with his own ears Wen Ji telling someone on the other side of the wall that she liked him.

Later, it seemed everyone knew she admired him, yet Xi Shao always felt there was no affection in the way she looked at him.

She paid him less attention than she did when secretly going head-to-head with someone else.

Even as they crossed paths more and more, their relationship drawing close and then drifting apart, he still could not understand what Wen Ji was like when she loved someone.

Until one day, he saw the answer.

Beside his father, the man who held the court in the palm of his hand.

Theme: No matter what role you have, always strive to move forward.