Me? Marry the Marshal?

[Preorders: “Even If You Hit a Wall” and “He Can Still Be Saved”; see the announcement for direct links]

Blurb:

A sincere but calculating black-sesame-tangyuan top who calls the shots × a lofty but high-attack, low-defense marshal bottom

Yan Hui × Amber Themis

(P.S. The bottom appears in Chapter 4.)

The war between the Central Star Sector and the Empire has dragged on for years. To address the increasingly severe problem of sentinels suffering mental breakdowns, the Central Star Sector Alliance established the “Matching System.”

Yan Hui, a “disabled guide” with mental power but no spirit form, used the public version of the Matching System for the first time and was matched with a “patient” whose compatibility rating was a staggering 99.9%.

Yan Hui’s first thought was that the System had a bug.

In academic terms, “compatibility” refers to how well the special molecules dispersed by a guide when activating their spirit form match a sentinel’s mental landscape.

But he didn’t have a spirit form.

So when they collected his data, all he could do was awkwardly use his mental power to “fan” the air.

His already weak mental power naturally couldn’t disperse many molecules, so his compatibility rating with most sentinels was below 40%.

As for that 99.9%…

Only then did Yan Hui notice the name next to the “99.9%”:

Amber Themis.

He decided the System must be insane.

Amber Themis, an S-rank sentinel and the current marshal of the Central Star Sector. His spirit form was a crescent moon. His fanatical followers also called him the “Alliance’s New Moon.”

They said he was as untouchable as a mountain flower, decisive and ruthless, and ruled his legion with an iron fist. In short, he was a tyrant.

Yan Hui slowly closed the Matching System window.

Me?

Marry the marshal?

In a frantic rush, Yan Hui killed time at work by filling out a marriage rejection application. He planned to submit it as soon as the System opened the next morning.

Then that very night, on the road from the Guidance Center to his private residence, at the mouth of a dim alley,

Yan Hui found a moon.

A “moon” in the literal sense.

Holding the crescent moon, he hesitantly walked into the deep alley. At the end, he found Amber Themis, his cheek swollen, one arm severed and bloodied, and his eyes clouded over.

He’d never wanted to ask why the lofty “Alliance’s New Moon” had fallen into such a state.

But now he regretted it.

*

Yan Hui had a secret.

He had actually lived two lives.

At this point in his previous life, he’d wiped the “moon” clean and sent it back into the sky, then turned down this absurd marriage.

Later, after Amber endured political infighting and the physical battles of the war against the Empire, his mental power suddenly went out of control. A month later, he bit through his own tongue and died.

Meanwhile, Yan Hui was taken back by the imperial family as the long-lost crown prince.

After rising to a position of power, he listened to those useless drunkards pleading and remorsefully begging for forgiveness. Yan Hui could only think with regret:

Even if he killed them all, his moon would never again hang high in the sky.

Fortunately, Heaven took pity on him.

It gave him another chance.

As for this life

Yan Hui lowered his eyes to the silver hair scattered across the ground, slowly crouched down, and gathered the shattered “Alliance’s New Moon” into his arms.

He thought he would make the moon his own.

He would start by getting married.

*

Later, the Central Star Sector’s government was rocked by a sudden change of power. Overnight, Amber was branded a “traitor” and brought before a military tribunal. As the judge listed his many “crimes,” Amber curled his lips indifferently, regretting only that he might have to break his promise.

His guide was soft and sensitive. When angry, he could only give you a tiny bounce like a solid little tangyuan. By now, he was probably on the verge of tears.

If only I hadn’t…

He saw the judge reach for the gavel.

So he calmly closed his eyes, ready to accept the fate he had long foreseen.

The next second,

the doors of the courtroom were blasted open by a terrifying surge of mental power, and a scorching, familiar presence enveloped Amber.

In front of countless viewers watching the live broadcast, the figure who had just been crying in Amber’s thoughts burst in, dressed in splendid robes and medals, his face icy cold.

Yan Hui tossed the medal symbolizing the imperial family in front of the judge. He broke the chains with a gun in one hand, while the fingers of his other hand flipped a bright red document. Tilting his head, he asked:

“What do you think you’re doing to my consort?”

* [Bonus scene]

When Amber Theseus’s official profile was changed to “married,” his admirers in the Central Star Sector dug up Yan Hui’s entire family tree in three seconds, then flooded 10,086 fan groups with question marks.

“?? Who is this? How could his compatibility with the marshal possibly be 99.9%?”

“…And he’s disabled, too?”

“What makes him so special?!”

When footage of Amber’s unexpected mental breakdown reached the Empire, the people there went wild, too.

“You’re telling me our noble, hard-won, innocent, kind, beautiful, adorable Crown Prince…”

“…is going to marry an enemy marshal who might go insane?”

“Mommy doesn’t approve!!!”

Whenever that happened, Yan Hui would open the comments and pester Amber to read them aloud, one by one.

If a comment pleased him, he’d pin Amber down and thrust into him once.

If a comment made him pout, he’d turn Amber around, press him down, and make him sit on him once.

Then, as Amber’s tears flowed and he whimpered in humiliation, Yan Hui would kiss his brow, little by little.

“Amber.”

“Amber, Amber, Amber, Amber.”

“My moon…”

A sincere but calculating black-sesame-tangyuan top who calls the shots × a lofty but high-attack, low-defense marshal bottom

[Daily updates after the book goes premium; break every Thursday. I’ll post a notice if I need to take time off.]

[I sometimes get writer’s block, so apologies for the late-night update schedule.]

(Some elements of the guide-sentinel setting are original.)

Thanks to @Paloma for the character art

Delicious preorder “Even If You Hit a Wall” is coming in hot

Shen Zhimei × Bai Zhou

A ruthless, looks-obsessed boss who calls the shots × a scheming, domestic-minded cool guy

Preorder blurb (see the announcement for a direct link):

Shen Zhimei first met Bai Zhou in the chaotic lower city. The boy had deep green eyes like emeralds and a striking, sharp-featured face.

His pretty face attracted not only Shen Zhimei, but also those vile, bloated maggots. They bound his hands and feet, gagged him, and sold him like merchandise to a bed in a high-end hotel.

The boy’s face was numb with resignation, but his green eyes were like ivy on a ruined garden wall, densely covered in a desire to keep living and reach for the light.

That night, in the hotel’s emergency stairwell, Shen Zhimei held the trembling boy and slowly wiped the blood from his hands onto himself.

Then he blinked and made a shushing gesture.

Over the next six months, the lower city’s powers were reshuffled one by one after they tried to rape District Chief Shen’s son. The ivy survived in the cracks.

*

Shen Zhimei met Bai Zhou for the second time at his cousin’s coming-of-age celebration. The young man, still growing into himself, had a head of uneven, dull blond hair and huddled in a corner of the hall. His cousin pinched his chin with a lecherous smile and announced that the illegitimate son who had just returned to the family would be tonight’s prize.

As the people around them clapped knowingly, only Shen Zhimei noticed the slight movement of the fingers hidden behind Bai Zhou’s back. They formed the shape of a gun.

“Bang!”

The next day, his poor cousin lay dead in the street with a bullet through his head.

*

Shen Zhimei met Bai Zhou for the third time at a celebration for his victory that doubled as a matchmaking party. By then, Bai Zhou wore several stars on his shoulders. Years of killing alien creatures had left him with a weathered, battle-hardened air, and several young men from prominent families were already clustered around him, fawning over him as they drank.

The once-awkward boy had grown into a formidable captain who inspired awe without raising his voice.

Shen Zhimei laughed scornfully.

He methodically crushed the tracking device on his body, then blocked the eavesdropping and tracking apps on his phone one by one. He leaned against the wall with one knee bent.

Before long, hurried footsteps came from behind him.

The newcomer hadn’t even had time to change out of his elaborate formalwear. Several buttons had popped open as he ran, revealing a broad expanse of honey-colored skin.

His long, pale blond hair, usually gathered neatly at the back of his head, had been deliberately mussed. His eyes shimmered like shattered emeralds, and a few drops of wine still clung above his lips.

Shen Zhimei let his gaze linger, then beckoned him over.

“I’m still looking for someone to marry for political reasons.”

Even If You Hit a Wall, Climb Over and Break the Mulberry Branch

A ruthless, looks-obsessed boss who calls the shots × a scheming, domestic-minded cool guy

Theme:, When the wild geese return, the moon fills the western tower