Everyone knew Pei He was Prince Yu’s trusted aide, a sinister and ruthless man whom people both respected and feared.
Only Princess Lingde disliked him.
Yet this very princess, who hated him and had even slipped him a laxative, suddenly came to him and offered him a handsome reward.
Pei He looked up and met the princess’s blazing gaze.
He thought, Fine. Just this once.
Afterward, the princess grew bolder and bolder. She wanted to take revenge on the marquis, scheme against the heir, and assassinate Prince Yu.
Pei He knew the princess was using him.
When everything was settled, the princess’s gaze no longer lingered on him.
Pei He knew he couldn’t bear for the princess to have used him and nothing more.
In the shadows, he smiled. “That handsome reward Your Highness promised me should be paid at some point.”
“Will you give me those ambiguous little gestures again, like before? Or perhaps a hug?”
He leaned closer, his breath brushing her neck.
“Or,” he murmured, his voice low, damp, and slow, “kiss me.”
Pei He had imagined the princess would be embarrassed or scold him in anger. But when her warm lips really pressed against his, he was at a loss.
It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.
He stared at the princess’s face, so close to his, trying to discern humiliation or hatred in her expression.
It didn’t matter anymore.
Even if she killed him the way she had killed Prince Yu.
Zheng Yuanshu had been reborn. In her previous life, Prince Yu rebelled, and she ended up with no remains to bury.
Now the court was seething with factional strife and packed with powerful clans, while her imperial brother was stubborn and self-willed.
She had no choice but to turn to Lord Pei, the man rumored to have betrayed his teacher and abandoned his family.
Pei He was a reliable ally. There was only one thing that troubled Zheng Yuanshu: she could never see through him.
No matter how hard she tried, he never let a trace of emotion show.
Until one night, beneath the wavering candlelight, the gleam in his eyes solidified into unmistakable infatuation.
He told her to kiss him.
That secret, treasonous desire was finally laid bare...
Zheng Yuanshu heard a voice surging deep in her mind:
Kiss him.
Tame him.
At some point, Pei He became impossible to shake.
When she closed her eyes, his gaze crawled over every inch of her skin like a parasite burrowing into her bones.
When she opened them, he smiled and spoke in a low voice, as if he weren’t the one holding her ankle at that very moment.
Pei He found all kinds of ways to call to her and tempt her:
“Your Highness,” “Princess,” “Qingqing”...
Every time he called her “Shu’er,” Zheng Yuanshu shivered all over.
What a fox spirit!
Heroine: A master flirt with a plan but no experience, she wins by throwing wild punches and taking down the old hand.
Hero: Switches seamlessly between a dark, brooding man and a fox spirit, but he’s weak on both offense and defense.
Reading guide:
1. All unmarried men are sexually inexperienced, whether or not they have anything to do with the heroine.
2. The hero is 27 and the heroine is 18, with a nine-year age gap.
3. The heroine becomes emperor at the end. There’s a little court intrigue, but the main focus is romance.
4. The heroine doesn’t take abuse lying down. She gets even.
Theme: Root out corruption, clear the way, and usher in a golden age
