The Assassin Won't Strike

[Amnesiac Assassin x Scheming Prince]

Shen Yuan was a top assassin of the Qiluan Pavilion. After suffering a serious injury, she could no longer remember anything.

When she woke, she was the second-in-command of Qingfeng Stronghold, where the villagers kept feeding her every day. She thought eating well was great, but she wanted even more to recover her lost memories. She just had no idea where to start.

Then a tea merchant named Lu Ci appeared, giving her hope. He came from the capital and had traveled widely, with knowledge of both the martial world and the court. He invited her to travel with him and was warm and friendly. She thought she might be able to find clues to her past through him, so she trusted him completely and told him everything on her mind.

Unfortunately, a fire at Qingfeng Stronghold revealed that he had been lying to her. He had approached her only to use her.

That was when she learned his real name was Xiao Heng, the seventh prince of the current dynasty.

She resented him, but she was also poisoned and needed his resources to find an antidote. So they would work together. She told herself he was nothing but a tool.

She never expected that tool to take an arrow for her, shield her from the rain, and buy her delicious food.

She had to admit she was not unmoved by him.

Then her memories came back, and she remembered who she was.

She also remembered her mission: kill him. The man who had stirred her heart was the very target she had been sent to assassinate.

And even then, he was still lying to her. He had recognized her from the start, and every step he took had been part of his scheme.

Shen Yuan bristled, pressed her sword to his throat, and prepared to kill him.

At the last moment, she hesitated.

He had deceived her, and he was the man she had been ordered to kill. But the kindness he had shown her was real.

Shen Yuan flung her sword to the ground, turned, and walked away without looking back.

She was quitting the mission, and there was no need to work with him anymore. From now on, she would simply pretend she did not know him.

As for the antidote, she would find a way on her own. What border army strongholds or walls around the capital could stop her? With sword in hand, where in the world could she not go?

She did not want anyone to hold her in their grip. She would be a free wind.

What he thought of it was none of her concern.

Xiao Heng was an unambitious prince who kept to himself. He was targeted because his veins carried blood that should not have been there.

Everyone thought he was lazy and spent his life chasing pleasure. In truth, it was all an act. He was secretly plotting with great care, determined to claim the realm.

He recognized Shen Yuan from the intelligence in his hands at their very first meeting. He knew she had come to kill him.

But she had lost her memory, was naive and easy to deceive, and was highly skilled in martial arts. He thought she could be used and controlled.

Yet the more time he spent with Shen Yuan, the more extraordinary he found her. When she said, “I want to kill the injustice in this world,” her words struck a chord in him. She stood up for the injustices of his childhood and said she wanted to help him “fight our way out of that wretched capital, just the two of us, with a sword each.” His heart pounded like a drum.

He said, “Shen Yuan, I regard you as a kindred spirit.” But surely he wanted more than that?

He had already fallen deeply in love with her.

He just never imagined she would truly recover her memories and leave him. She said, “We deceived and used each other. Now we're even.”

Xiao Heng thought, So what if we're even? As long as he refused to let go, they could never be even.

Shen Yuan had meant to walk away for good, but she never expected that the scheming man who planned every step would follow her around, willing to lower himself to win her heart back.

He humbly offered himself: “You still haven't found the antidote you need. Keep me around. I can be useful.”

She could not help asking, “Your Highness, since you put it that way, I really ought to make good use of you. But aren't you afraid I'll toss you aside once I'm done?”

He bowed his head. “Then I'll make myself even more useful, so you can use me for the rest of your life.”

⭐ Two strong leads, both exposed in turn, and love that grows over time as they save each other

⭐ Sweet romance overall, with plenty of subtle sweetness

⭐ An imaginary setting, with political intrigue in service of the romance

Upcoming novel, My Blind General's Wife Is a Little Wild. Please add it to your collection. Here's the blurb:

A flirt-and-flee assassin x a restrained, secretly passionate general

The day Yan Zhi crawled out of the mass grave after faking her death, she, once a top assassin, thought she was finally free. But poison had blinded her, and she nearly drowned.

She was rescued by a kind man who ran a martial arts school. After they became intimate, he said he would take responsibility for her.

Yan Zhi said, “Take responsibility for me? Then marry me.”

After they married, Yan Zhi felt she had hit the jackpot. Her husband was gentle, his face felt handsome to the touch, and he was broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted, and long-legged. Even with a limp, he was a formidable fighter.

The only flaw was that he had no idea how to romance her and would not even consummate their marriage.

She tried every way she could think of to seduce him. She would make him squeeze her arm while she embroidered, or lift her bare calf and tell him, “Husband, this needs attention too.”

Even her first kiss took two days of begging to get.

“Husband, if you don't give me the kiss you owe me, tomorrow you'll owe me twice as many!”

He blushed and did as she asked, but fled as soon as they were done, leaving her thoroughly frustrated.

Enough of that. Yan Zhi focused on studying the poison that had blinded her and left him alone.

To her utter surprise, he finally caught on.

On rainy days, he would carry her despite the pain in his leg. He racked his brains to find a doctor for her, and secretly sucked on the finger she had pricked with a needle.

He said, “What's mine is yours.”

Yan Zhi was overwhelmed by his affection, and life was blissful.

But then the assassination organization discovered that she had faked her death. Yan Zhi left a divorce letter and chose to run. The leader was vicious, and she could not let her husband get dragged into it.

The letter said four words: Don't look for me.

Yan Zhi spent two years drawing the remaining poison from her eyes and regained her sight. But a lingering side effect damaged her inner power, and she fell into the leader's hands once more.

The leader promised to give her medicine to restore her inner power and set her free, as long as she completed one final assassination.

Her target was a renowned commander. She heard he had once been falsely accused of treason, but had cleared his name two years ago and returned to prominence.

After scouting the place, Yan Zhi raised the silver needles she used to kill.

But her target had been prepared. She fell into a trap, was captured, and brought before him.

With an exceptionally handsome face, he asked in a voice Yan Zhi knew all too well, “Don't you recognize me, wife?”

“I've been looking for you all this time.”

Theme: I no longer want to be anyone's weapon. I want to be a free wind.