#Fake death #Amnesia and replacement #Possessive pursuit #
Princess Xia Guantang is the most honored woman in the court. Born with dazzling beauty, she is arrogant and overbearing by nature, and her residence is filled with countless male lovers. Yet whenever she strokes their dashing shoulders, a face always flashes through her mind, stirring her anger and leaving her disenchanted.
Her elder brother can’t stand to watch any longer and advises her earnestly: “How about I find you a consort?”
Xia Guantang lounges against an embroidered stool. A tall man with the bearing of a graceful crane, dressed in court robes, approaches through the shadows of peonies filling the garden.
A fleeting glimpse, enough to take her breath away.
Xia Guantang sits up in a daze. Only then does she realize that this is Lord Rong, the famed “Jade-Faced Rakshasa” of the Ministry of Justice. His face almost perfectly matches the one in her heart, and even their names are so alike.
“I’ll have him.”
*
An imperial edict arranging their marriage ruins Rong Xun’s career. The couple may be married in name, but their hearts are far apart. After all, a man of such integrity could never care for the frivolous, licentious, and notoriously infamous princess.
Xia Guantang resorts to every means at her disposal, ordering him to keep his eyes open and imitate her male lovers. Shame and resentment tint his beautiful phoenix eyes, but he can only play the part of the faithless lover who supposedly betrayed her when she was young.
Xia Guantang smiles coquettishly. “You’re my good husband.”
“He hurt me and betrayed me. You can pay his debt for him.”
So when Rong Xun raises an army in rebellion, Xia Guantang is certain she will die by his blade. She sets a trap and hangs herself with a white silk sash in the bridal chamber, accidentally leaving behind a farewell letter as she packs up to leave.
The letter begins:
“Ah Xun, the truth is, all these years, it was only because I loved you too much.”
*
Rong Xun rises to the highest position beneath the emperor, helping the young emperor ascend the throne and becoming a regent praised by the people. His comrades congratulate him on escaping a living hell, and never fail to curse the woman who supposedly hanged herself in a sea of flames.
No one will ever know that Rong Xun habitually kneels beside his bed late at night, unfolding that strange farewell letter.
Until its writing is blurred by water stains.
Until he hears that the woman is still alive.
A woman is brought into the yamen. Rong Xun sits in the seat of authority, his cool, angular features growing ever more gaunt. As he looks up, light falls upon his tired, slightly sinister face.
The woman before him trembles. “My lord, we don’t know each other.”
His composed facade comes apart in the dead of night. Rong Xun caresses the face he has longed for and hated in equal measure, murmuring by her trembling ear.
“It doesn’t matter if we don’t know each other.”
“She hurt me and betrayed me. You can pay her debt for her.”
*
A spoiled, wicked beauty x a lofty, untouchable gentleman
A story about a hypocrite who kills his wife to attain the Way, only to unexpectedly become her dog...
[Blurb saved on 2026.6.22]
Theme: Cherish the person before you.
