The Emperor Claims His Minister's Wife

My name is Shen Weiwan. I am an orphan whom Prime Minister Xie Linyuan picked up by the roadside. I grew up in his household, raised to be his child bride. For twenty years, I was as meek as a sparrow and as timid as a rabbit. I treated his words as sacred and his kindness as my very life. I spent all that time waiting to come of age, put on a red wedding dress, and become his wife in name and law.

I never imagined that the marriage I had waited for so long would collapse completely on the eve of the wedding.

The crown prince, Xiao Jingheng, had always feared Xie Linyuan's power over the court, but had no way to strike at him. So he turned his blade on me, the person Xie Linyuan called the apple of his eye. He stormed into the prime minister's residence with overwhelming force, heedless of the court's disapproval and my tearful pleas on my knees, and dragged me to the Eastern Palace by force, imprisoning me as the lowliest of his concubines.

He was the tyrant who humiliated Xie Linyuan, the cage that held me captive. I feared and hated him, praying day and night that Xie Linyuan would rescue me from these palace walls that devoured people alive.

But what I waited for was not salvation. It was deeper exploitation.

Xie Linyuan secretly sent me messages, soothing me with gentle words. He said I was his only spy beside the crown prince, and told me to pretend to obey, steal secrets, and help him bring down the heir apparent in exchange for a lifetime of security.

I believed him. I believed that after raising me all these years, he must truly care for me. I believed everything I did was for our future. So I hid my fear and learned to serve with tenderness, turning Xiao Jingheng's trust, tenderness, and affection into blades to strike him with.

He would shield me when I was frightened, remember that I disliked overly sweet food, and confide in me late at night about the helplessness of his position as crown prince. He would place his tenderest feelings before me. But I looked away, convinced it was all false affection from the imperial family. Again and again, I revealed his plans and crushed his sincerity.

Then, on the eve of the palace coup, I stumbled upon a truth that could destroy my entire life.

Xie Linyuan was speaking in secret with his trusted aide. Every word cut to the bone. I had never been his child bride, nor his weakness. From the day he took me in, I had been a doomed piece in his game, a tool to humiliate the crown prince and seize imperial power. Once he succeeded, he would have me silenced to eliminate any future threat.

Years of kindness and care shattered to dust in a single moment.

At last, I came to my senses. The man who had imprisoned me within the palace walls had given me his whole heart. The man who had raised me in a hothouse had used me to the bone.

The palace coup erupted. Xiao Jingheng was defeated and deposed, the crown prince's position changed hands, and he was exiled to a desolate land thousands of miles away. Xie Linyuan took control of the court and sent someone to bring me back to his residence, promising me half a lifetime of wealth and glory. He still wore that same gentle, hypocritical expression.

But I would never turn back again.

In front of the entire court, I brushed aside the hand he held out and resolutely walked toward the crown prince, who was covered in dirt and disarray yet still gazing at me.

Xiao Jingheng, I'll go with you.

Theme: The one I love is separated from me by mountains and seas, and they cannot be crossed.