I Picked Up a Cold Crown Prince as My Male Companion

[Kind people get bullied] [Cunning, looks-obsessed foreign princess x sharp-tongued but soft-hearted, aloof and abstinent Central Plains crown prince]

Duan Siyue is Princess Zhaoming of the Southern Kingdom, dearly loved by her father the emperor. She should have spent her whole life living in luxury.

But a sudden upheaval sends her life completely off its expected course. Parents who are hopeless romantics, a younger brother still in his childhood, and a marriage partner whose funeral has only just been held...

She wants to cry but has no tears. With her kingdom on the verge of ruin, she may as well take the lead and try to turn the tide herself. Maybe she can still save the day?

So she escapes the royal city, intending to reclaim lost territory and make a name for herself!

Her first campaign is a great success, and right away she picks up a sickly, aloof, elegant man. Who doesn't love beautiful things?! She can admire his face while she fights, which is sure to boost morale.

As she frets over what excuse to use to keep him with the army, the man unexpectedly introduces himself to someone with a perfectly serious expression.

He says, "I am Her Highness's personal companion."

She is bewildered. "What's a personal companion?"

The man's cheeks turn even redder, and he stammers, "It's... a male concubine."

"Then why not just say male concubine?"

"Because... it sounds rather vulgar."

That works. Now she can use his 'position' as an excuse to take a few more liberties with him.

She kisses him in the tent under the pretense of easing his pain, and tangles with him beneath the curtains on the pretext of treating his wounds. Watching the iceberg melt a little more each day, she delights in every moment and never tires of it.

Only, at the time, she still doesn't know that this unexpected bargain is not nearly as easy to take advantage of as it seems.

-

Rumor has it that before marrying the Crown Prince of Dasu, the Crown Princess, once a foreign princess, had a male concubine.

It was one thing for them to be inseparable in the army, but they were even said to spend every night in revelry. People jokingly called her a female King You and him a male Bao Si.

Everyone felt sorry for the newly titled Crown Prince. He had just earned the merit of bringing the Southern Kingdom into the fold, only to marry such a woman. So wanton and unrestrained, how could she be worthy of that solitary moon in the heavens, fit only to be admired from afar and never profaned?

Before long, curious busybodies began pressing their ears to the walls of the Eastern Palace.

From the other side came a voice of wanton pleasure.

"Am I better, or is that personal companion of yours better? Hmm?"

"You're better. You're much better!"

"Say it again?"

The reply came in broken fragments. "He... he's better..."

"Say it again?"

Duan Siyue stared up at the canopy, wanting to ask the heavens in exasperation: Could this man have some kind of split personality, or a role-playing habit?

Reader's Guide:

1. The leads are strictly monogamous and faithful to each other, but there is romantic rivalry. The second male lead is devoted and long-suffering, while the third male lead uses force to claim what he wants.

2. Everyone has their own growth arc and their own part to play. No one is just a plot device.

3. The dynasty is fictional, inspired by the Northern Song and the Dali Kingdom.

--- Blurb for the upcoming novel Marrying the Sinister Minister Below My Station. This one will start as soon as this novel is complete. If you're interested, please add it to your collection!

Voluptuous, beautiful, lustful princess x cold-faced, sinister, abstinent Minister of the Secretariat

Strictly monogamous 1v1 / everyone falls for her / marriage before love / bittersweet secret crush (hidden storyline)

Her father the emperor dies suddenly. Her younger brother ascends the throne, only for the Empress Dowager to seize control of the court. The regents stand by and do nothing. Locust plagues and floods ravage the land, while loyal ministers and generals await justice for their wrongful convictions...

The whole realm lies before Shangguan Zao like a chaotic mess.

Unfortunately, she is only a woman, with nothing but a stunningly beautiful face and the dubious honor of being the most beautiful woman in Daliang.

Looking across the court and the imperial harem, the only person she can count on to bring down the Empress Dowager, secure her brother's throne, and then deal with the disasters and clear the unjust cases is Xiao Ren, the young Minister of the Secretariat who holds immense power. The late emperor appointed him as regent in his final hours, but no one knows what he has been up to all this time.

So she discusses a plan with her brother: use marriage as a pretext to win Xiao Ren over! And while she's at it, she can find out what he's really doing.

The world thinks she is licentious, the Empress Dowager thinks she is stupid, and Xiao Ren prides himself on his own lofty character. With his reputation for being cold and sinister, surely he won't lay a hand on her.

But on their wedding night, he...

Aaaaaah! What happened to being cold, sinister, and abstinent?! Why is the Minister of the Secretariat acting like this?!!!

-

Xiao Ren never expected the beautiful Princess Liyi to lay down three rules before their wedding.

First, she allows him to keep a lover outside the household, and likewise, he cannot forbid her from keeping male companions.

Second, they must not share a bed at night.

Third, this is not to be considered him taking a princess as his wife. She is marrying down, and he must live with her at the Xiao residence.

What on earth is all this???

Though rumors say she has nothing but beauty, and is in truth vulgar, wanton, and shameless, with an ambiguous entanglement with the heir of a prince of another surname, so what? His own reputation is hardly respectable. Aren't they a perfect match?

Besides, only wolves and tigers can stay together for a lifetime.

But he can't tolerate these three rules.

On their wedding day, before they reach the bed, beneath the red silk curtains.

Following the nuptial wine cup, he slowly takes her slender, soft hand. With a half-smile, he says, "Your Highness is said to delight in the pleasures of the bedchamber. Would you like to try mine?"

Yet the princess, who supposedly has been with countless men, seems as inexperienced as an untouched melon and pushes him away with unusual awkwardness.

"N-no... um... I can't today."

He slips his fingers into her crimson sleeve and strokes her skin, smooth as jade. His breath brushes her ear. "Can't? Very well, then let me serve Your Highness."

Blushing, she says, "Wait, wait, wait!!! We agreed not to share a bed at night..."

Xiao Ren's smile deepens. He knew she would use that rule against him, so he had already petitioned the emperor to change the auspicious time of the wedding. Now he can refute her without a hitch.

"Has Your Highness forgotten? It is daytime now."

So doing that sort of thing in broad daylight is fine???!!!!

Theme: Joining hands to banish treachery and bring peace to a world torn by chaos.