[Timid, honest younger sister-in-law × gloomy, scheming elder brother-in-law]
Luo Rong was devastated when her husband died on his way back from a campaign against bandits. On the night she kept vigil at his funeral, she secretly drank some wine alone.
In a haze, she thought she saw her husband's familiar figure. She stumbled after him to the bedroom, where she spent the night in the arms of the dead.
When she woke the next morning and saw her husband's elder brother's cool, jade-like face, she was struck as if by lightning.
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Pei Zhen was born into the prestigious Qinghe Pei clan, a family with a history stretching back a hundred years. Raised from childhood to inherit its leadership, he was aloof and proud, proper and composed, and handsome as a legendary hero, with the grace of an orchid and a jade tree.
When his second brother died, Pei Zhen handled everything without changing his expression, as if taking care of routine business.
That is, until that night.
Amid factional strife at court, someone drugged him. As he lay in bed trying to rid himself of the poison, a woman burst in.
Through the haze of his fading consciousness, a cool, soft body pressed against him, drawing him into a sea of passion.
Early the next morning, the woman fled in a panic.
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Later, after he returned to the capital, his parents, worried that his second brother had no heirs, asked him to take on the responsibility of carrying on both branches of the family.
He remembered the woman as awkward and timid, always keeping her head bowed, and firmly refused. He even suggested preparing a dowry so she could marry someone else.
Pei Zhen never imagined that one day he would regret it so bitterly. The woman he had searched for so long had been right in front of him all along.
In the Pei family courtyard, his second brother, who had returned from the dead, faced their parents with tears in his eyes.
Behind the courtyard screen, Pei Zhen pinned the woman against the wall. As he watched her tremble and weep, pleading with him, his dark, damp breath brushed her ear. “Don't cry. If you keep it up, they'll find out.”
※Please note:
The heroine is not a virgin; the hero is chaste in both body and heart. He is six years older than her.
The romance begins only after the heroine and the second male lead's marriage has been dissolved. The dynasty is fictional, and many details are invented.
May 20, 2026
Theme: If you want something, you should fight for it
