Marrying Up

A Lofty Marriage:

Ye Wanying is the youngest daughter of a Ministry of Works official. She is beautiful, sweet-tempered, and adorably guileless.

At a palace banquet, the emperor acted on a whim and personally betrothed her to Fu Junheng.

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Fu Junheng is the emperor's nephew through the empress, the crown prince's cousin, and the son of the Duke of Ying, who helped the emperor ascend the throne. His family background is as illustrious as they come.

He is also a brilliant scholar and warrior, with peerless good looks.

A man like him should be the ideal husband every young lady in the capital dreams of. But because he also serves as Director of the Imperial City Bureau, noblewomen from every family steer clear of him.

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As the highest-ranking official in the Imperial City Bureau, Fu Junheng is the emperor's trusted aide and the court's attack dog. Whenever the emperor cannot personally handle some unsavory or thorny business, Fu Junheng is the one who takes care of it.

Rumors abound in the capital that he is bloodthirsty and ruthless, with countless lives on his hands.

They say that to extract confessions, he once skinned a man alive and pulled out his tendons, and that he often cuts off people's heads and kicks them around like balls...

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Ye Wanying has heard those rumors, of course.

After receiving the imperial decree, she stole a glance at the man, mustering all her courage.

He stood before her, cloaked in a heavy aura of murderous intent, his face as cold as ice. His eyes were sharp as knives as they fixed on her.

She had always been timid. That single glance left her so terrified that she was feverish for days.

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But an imperial command is absolute. Once the decree was issued, there could be no going back.

Her father was merely a sixth-rank Ministry of Works official, with little influence and no voice. How could she let her own selfish wishes bring trouble to the family who cherished her?

With no other choice, she married him, her heart full of unease.

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Fortunately, the man was as indifferent to women as the rumors claimed.

On their wedding night, he spent only one night in bed with her. Before dawn, he left on an assignment by imperial order.

He was gone for over half a year.

Ye Wanying enjoyed the peace and freedom.

Her parents-in-law adored and indulged her so much that she often forgot she was the Duke of Ying's daughter-in-law, and thought of herself as their own daughter instead.

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Just as she was getting carried away, the husband who had been away for so long suddenly returned.

On the night they reunited, the man, now even more imposing and wreathed in a stronger aura of menace, strode toward her.

Ye Wanying woke from her dreamlike reverie and stammered, trembling, "I-I want a divorce..."

*Marriage first, love later / One-on-one romance / Each other's first love / Happy ending / Sweet romance

(Blurb screenshotted and saved on 20260411)

Theme: Love can turn people's hearts toward the light.