She Is Mine to Claim

On the day the Zhu family fell, Zhu Qing'an's beloved, Shen Yu, had not yet completed his period of mourning. With an imperial order to obey, he had to leave at once for the border. Shen Yu could only ask his friend Xie Lin to marry Zhu Qing'an.

"Please protect her for a while. Just two years. Once my mourning period is over and the border has settled down, I'll come for her right away!"

Zhu Qing'an became Xie Lin's wife in name only. She was grateful and kept her place in mind.

But the rules of an eminent household were strict. Her mother-in-law looked down on her fallen family, while her sisters-in-law mocked her for taking someone else's place. Remembering that this marriage was only an arrangement and that she was a temporary guest, she endured every slight in silence, carefully hiding her bright, lively self.

Zhu Qing'an could only hope that Shen Jue would soon return from the distant border and take her away.

But she gradually noticed that Shen Jue's letters were becoming less frequent, and his return date kept getting pushed back. Meanwhile, the gaze of her husband in name only, Xie Lin, grew more intense by the day.

Until she stumbled upon the truth and fled in panic, only to fall hard on the stone steps on a stormy night.

When she awoke, she had forgotten everything. Beside her bed sat a man with deep-set phoenix eyes and power that reached the heavens.

He told her gently, "Qing'an, I am your husband."

Xie Lin accepted his friend's request and married the fallen daughter of the Zhu family.

He gave her a title and his protection, but also coldness and distance.

Yet she was too quiet, nothing like the lively, radiant woman the informants had described, the one who loved to laugh and make a fuss.

When she was deliberately mistreated, she never complained. When people sneered at her, she only lowered her head in silence.

For the first time in his life, he stood up for one of his own. After that, he seemed to get addicted to it.

Seeing the glimmer of light return to Zhu Qing'an's eyes when he defended her, seeing the sly smile she showed when she occasionally let her guard down, Xie Lin's cold, hard heart developed a greed it should never have known.

That greed grew wild in the still of the night: Why should he pave the way for someone else to claim her? Why should the wife he had formally married have someone else in her heart?

So he made careful arrangements for the orders to the border and meticulously filtered the news reaching the capital.

With his own hands, he cut off every possible path for the bird longing to fly away, one by one, completely.

What fake marriage?

He was the one who formally married her. He was the one who completed the three letters and six rites. He was the one who shared the wedding night with her. And he alone would share the long years ahead with her.

As the two years drew to a close, Shen Jue finally appeared at the gates of the Xie residence, weary from his journey, and asked Xie Lin to let her go.

Xie Lin's voice was calm, but every word was a blade: "General Shen, who are you here to take?"

He stepped aside, revealing the scene behind him. Zhu Qing'an was leaning against the doorway, one hand unconsciously protecting her slightly rounded belly. She looked over with a gaze of innocent unfamiliarity.

In that moment, Shen Jue's world silently collapsed.

[Content warnings]

1. The male lead is no gentleman: He is calculating and schemes against his brother to steal the woman he loves.

2. The female lead is not emotionally involved with two male characters at the same time.

3. Coercive possession, brothers turning against each other, and the female lead suffers from amnesia.

4. More to be added if I think of anything.

2025.12.13

Theme: Independence and self-reliance