[Fragile and easy to bully vs. cruel, favored son of Heaven]
Prince Xiao Huaiheng was as beautiful as an immortal, dignified and composed, and renowned as the God of War.
The only pity was that the Crown Princess chosen by the emperor, though noble-born and stunningly beautiful, suffered from a speech impediment.
People in the Eastern Palace often saw the Crown Princess standing alone beneath the steps, waiting for the Crown Prince to return late at night, night after night, rain or shine.
Everyone in Luoyang said that although the Crown Princess could not speak, she loved the Crown Prince deeply.
Xiao Huaiheng, however, didn't think much of it. He was cold by nature and had never known affection. He had married Qiao Luan purely as a matter of convenience.
How could a mute girl who was nothing more than a pawn possibly catch his eye?
Yet Qiao Luan was exceedingly obedient toward him.
He thought that if she continued to be so, he could afford to show her a little compassion.
That was why he couldn't understand, no matter how much he thought about it, why such an obedient little mute would meet her lover behind his back in a carriage.
She had even spoken to that man, her sweet voice lingering in the air and melting him to the bone.
But he had never heard her speak.
Her tear-streaked face and the panic in her eyes when she looked at him...
At that moment, the man who had always thought himself invincible snapped the jade sword in his hand.
**
Qiao Luan was the daughter of a concubine. After a family upheaval, she was poisoned into silence and forced to impersonate her legitimate elder sister, who looked much like her, and marry into the Eastern Palace.
She already had someone she loved, but under pressure from her stepmother, she was trapped in the Eastern Palace, humbly currying favor with Xiao Huaiheng, living in constant fear and sleepless nights.
Until her beloved secretly cured her speech impediment and tried to take her away from Luoyang...
She thought she would finally be free, but she never expected what awaited her to be the Crown Prince's private prison.
In the dim bedchamber, golden shackles swayed, and Qiao Luan's eyes brimmed with tears.
Xiao Huaiheng raised a hand and stroked the reddened corners of her eyes, no longer showing any trace of his usual cool composure.
He was utterly pleased by her trembling and tears.
And by the soft, tender voice he had never heard before.
“Do you know who I am now, hmm?”
“How pitiful. Unfortunately... your legitimate elder sister isn't coming back.”
*The main story is told from the heroine's perspective.
*Both are virgins, one-on-one, happy ending.
*Marriage before love, coercive possession, faked death, the husband pursues his wife after driving her away.
*The blurb's perspective is biased.
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