After Rong Yuan saved her and kept her by his side, Chao Kui was always looking for a chance to repay him.
Unfortunately, Rong Yuan wielded power over the court and ranked alongside the regent. There was nothing a little maid like her could do for him.
Until Rong Yuan's Gu poison flared up. The only way to cure it was to have sex with someone.
Chao Kui knew her chance to repay him had come.
She dutifully acted as the antidote, not daring to entertain any improper thoughts.
Because she had once had a dream. They were all living in a storybook, and Rong Yuan was its protagonist. Before long, he would crush the enemy kingdom and rescue his childhood sweetheart, who had been forced to take the princess's place in a political marriage. Then, with everyone's blessing, the two would marry and live happily ever after.
After that, of course, she would no longer be needed.
So, after helping Rong Yuan cure his Gu poison, Chao Kui packed her things and got as far away as she could.
*
Rong Yuan had been born into an illustrious family, a man of refined elegance and unparalleled nobility. But after enduring mountains of corpses and seas of blood, he became the regent everyone feared. People across the land said he was cruel and tyrannical, and that he intended to control the emperor and rule in his name.
The rumors went on for so long that even Rong Yuan began to indulge in the thrill of wielding power and shedding blood. Fortunately, Chao Kui was by his side.
Everyone said she was slow and foolish, but to Rong Yuan, Chao Kui was a lamp in a dark room, a warm ray of sunlight in the darkness, keeping him from plunging all the way into the abyss.
The days and nights spent curing his Gu poison also gave Rong Yuan his first taste of falling in love.
He took advantage of Chao Kui's obedience and docility, claiming her without restraint. He was certain she would never leave him.
But when he returned from a campaign, he suddenly realized Chao Kui had run away.
He personally led people to search for her, only to hear that Chao Kui had died in the chaos of battle.
His sun had fallen...
*
Later, Rong Yuan represented the emperor on a tour of the vassal state. In the palace, a man hurrying by ran into him, flustered because his pregnant wife had suddenly gone into labor. Rong Yuan didn't punish him. He even ordered someone to fetch the imperial physician.
It should have been an insignificant incident, until Rong Yuan happened to see the man's pregnant wife's face.
Who else could it be but Chao Kui! She had married another man and even had a child?
Rong Yuan's gaze instantly turned sinister...
In the dim candlelit room, Rong Yuan shed his usual aloofness and claimed Chao Kui again and again. Gripping her chin from behind, he bent close to her ear, his voice almost crazed:
"Chao Kui, you can only be my wife."
Both leads are virgins, a sweet romance, plenty of melodrama but no angst, and the heroine is an adult.
※ The leads only love each other. A devoted one-on-one romance, and the hero falls first. ※
Theme: Human will can overcome fate; refuse to submit to destiny
