This novel is expected to start in June 2026.
[Sweet on the outside, ruthless within hostage princess x devoted nobleman]
The moment the edict announcing her investiture arrived, Qiao Yuan knew it could only mean trouble: she was being sent to Donghuai as a hostage.
People said hostages were little better than prisoners, but Qiao Yuan spent one day sunbathing and the next stringing beads, living a carefree life.
All she had to do was wave a hand, and someone would bring her whatever she wanted.
Who says a princess sent away as a hostage is bound to suffer terribly?
Qiao Yuan lowered her eyes and smiled.
Suffering was inevitable, and there was no escaping it, but that did not mean she could not pass it on to someone else.
As long as she found a kind soul willing to suffer in her place, she naturally would not have to endure all that hardship.
She had found that kind soul long ago. At this very moment, he was kneeling in the great hall, asking to marry her, the princess of an enemy state.
After soaking up enough sun, Qiao Yuan got up and went inside to pack. It was getting late. It was time for her to go home.
Shen Ke met a young woman when he was seventeen. She was unlike anyone else: born to wealth and privilege, yet pure-hearted, gentle, and kind. She said that everything in the world had its own place and purpose. She could not even bring herself to kill a bug that had bitten her.
How could anyone be so pure and good? Shen Ke had seen plenty of haughty or arrogant young noblewomen in the capital, but he had never met a princess like her.
Yet fate played a cruel trick. Through a twist of circumstance, Qiao Yuan ended up in Donghuai as a hostage. Shen Ke watched from afar among the crowd as the princess, once so exalted, fell from grace. He was both moved and filled with pity.
From then on, he became hopelessly enamored with Qiao Yuan. If she would only smile a little more and say a few more words, he would even climb up and pluck the moon for her.
But Shen Ke forgot that the moon could never be plucked. He had only taken a few steps forward when his moon was consumed by a great fire.
Yes, she was burned to death.
He never found the moon again.
Moon, moon, would you still be willing to see me again?
A madman knelt disheveled by the banks of the Liang River, propping himself up as he gazed across the water.
That was the moon's homeland.
Half asleep and half awake, he seemed to see the moon truly return, holding him and softly singing:
The moon grows slender, the moon grows round, the moon hangs quietly at the edge of the sky.
The child is small, the child is sweet, the child behaves and does not make a fuss.
Flowers bloom in spring, cicadas sing in summer, leaves fall in autumn, and winter brings cold snow.
Year after year, month after month, the Liang River is hard to cross, and those who leave find it hard to return.
● Happy ending
● Ruthless heroine
Synopsis last edited on March 7, 2026
Theme: Grow through adversity, without fear or hesitation.
