The Ultimate Forced Marriage

[Cool, alluring female black-hearted strategist vs. fake-sweet, scheming, wickedly charming, mad general]

In her previous life, Shen Shu gave everything for Xiao Wenqing, only to end up with her family destroyed.

Reborn, Shen Shu became the player moving the pieces on the board. She allied herself with her former enemy’s enemy, Shang Yuyan, who had been framed and imprisoned in the Jiaosi Ward.

They refused to submit to fate and become men’s appendages. Together, they overturned the game, planning every step carefully.

They never expected that Shang Yuyan’s fiancé from her previous life, Feng Yao, who had died young, would return from the frontier and try to claim her by force, insisting that she was the only one for him. Meanwhile, Ling Ce, the “charcoal-faced living King of Hell” whom Shen Shu had once cast aside, had become her frail, handsome adopted younger brother in this life.

Faced with these two unpredictable variables, the women were troubled and had no choice but to devise new plans.

At the betrothal banquet, Xiao Wenqing promised he would never let Shen Shu down.

Ling Ce swayed and stumbled, accidentally knocking the bellyband hidden in Xiao Wenqing’s clothes to the ground. He hurriedly bowed and clasped his hands in apology:

“Brother Baichuan, forgive my offense. I feared you wouldn’t get your wish, so I meant to help mediate. I didn’t do it on purpose.”

At the banquet to choose a son-in-law, the wounded Ling Ce staggered and collapsed to the ground, the corners of his eyes faintly red.

“Elder Sister, don’t blame him! Blame me for foolishly hoping for too much. I’m not worthy of becoming the Shen family’s live-in son-in-law.”

Seeing this, Shang Yuyan warned Shen Shu to be wary of her frail adopted younger brother. He was deeply calculating and clearly had grand designs.

At the palace banquet, the noble ladies all laughed that Shang Yuyan and Feng Yao were as different as heaven and earth, and that she was foolish to reach above her station.

Feng Yao raised a hand to cover her eyes, then tossed every noble lady into the pond. His brows furrowed slightly, and his voice was cold enough to pierce to the bone:

“How dare you mock the person I cherish most? Do you think I’m easy to bully?”

That night, he deliberately showed up before her covered in bloody wounds, his gaze tender. “Yanyan, I’m aching all over... Could you spare me a little compassion?”

Seeing this, Shen Shu warned Shang Yuyan to be careful of the chancellor, who was just like a sinister ghost. Getting entangled with him would only bring endless trouble.

Gradually, they came to realize that those the world mocked as madmen silently drank the bitter blood of sorrow and concealed their murderous grief. In both their lives, they had never failed the people.

The court was seething with undercurrents. Someone promised the Shen family a century of prosperity. Shen Shu held a sharp blade to Ling Ce, raising her brows slightly. “General Ling, if we’re acting, we have to see it through.”

A sorrowful look surfaced in Ling Ce’s eyes. He reached up to grasp her delicate hand and turned the blade against their enemy. His ruthless killing intent instantly gave way to a gentle, smiling voice as he leaned close to her ear:

“Elder Sister, are you satisfied?”

On the day Shang Yuyan cleared her family’s name and overturned their wrongful conviction, she arranged to meet Feng Yao at the Zaidu Bridge. With a raised brow and a curled lip, she thrust her sword at him. “Chancellor, it’s time for the play to end.”

She was reborn, and would not step into the old dream again.

[Reader’s Guide]

1. Both leads are strong and devoted to each other. Happy ending, no melodramatic misunderstandings. They match wits and use each other.

2. Clear-headed, career-focused, black-lotus female lead. The core is court intrigue and revenge.

3. The male lead is beautiful, strong, and tragic: a fake-sweet-on-the-outside, righteous, mad God of War within. The people may wrong him, but he never wrongs them.

4. An imaginary setting blending the Han and Tang dynasties, with many original details. The point is to steal the love of another.

5. Character cards for the cover art: @A Flash of Lightning, Xingchen Moye, Lazy Starry Duck

Theme: Reject superficial romance and favoritism. Uphold the greater good of the nation and the conscience of humanity, and choose a soul and convictions worthy of your trust.