Synopsis
Clear-headed, resilient noblewoman × cold, obsessive warlord
Not biologically related | Semi-forced courtship | Age gap
When Wen Yunci was eleven, she moved with her birth mother into the household of Yuan, Marquis of Wuping, after her mother remarried. The marquis was kind and broad-minded, the ladies of the household gentle and good-natured, and her brothers and sisters lively and considerate.
Though she lived in turbulent times, she enjoyed several peaceful years as a noblewoman.
Everyone simply advised her to keep her distance from her eldest brother.
Yuan Xun, heir to the Marquis of Wuping, was handsome and dignified, with the bearing of a noble gentleman. On the battlefield, his commands were absolute, and not a single soldier dared disobey him.
He was ruthless toward outsiders and stern when reprimanding his younger siblings.
Fortunately, her eldest brother spent five years away fighting one campaign after another and rarely returned to the estate. They hardly crossed paths.
But at some point, Wen Yunci began running into him around the estate. Again and again, she caught him looking at her with deep affection. As her eldest brother, he poured her tea, led her horse, and did everything he could to care for her.
In the end, he began avoiding everyone's eyes, holding her in his arms in a secluded courtyard, showering her with tenderness as they clung to each other in a passionate embrace.
Young and inexperienced, Wen Yunci couldn't resist such an intense affair. She was terrified, yet lost in his devotion.
Beneath a starry night sky, he promised that when the war was over, he would take her away and spend the rest of his life with her.
But when the long-awaited day came, he was the one who severed their relationship.
After two years of war, Yuan Xun returned to the estate. He looked at her no differently than he did their other sisters, spoke to her with polite distance, and kept to the rigid rules of brotherly conduct.
It was as though the private conversations in the courtyard and the vows beneath the moon had been nothing but a dream she'd imagined alone.
From then on, she hid all her feelings, shut herself away in the inner courtyard, and sealed away the past, pretending none of it had ever happened.
She watched coldly as Yuan Xun busied himself arranging her marriage, just as he did for their other sisters, yet found fault with every candidate.
When she had chosen a kind and gentle man for herself and was happily awaiting her wedding, Yuan Xun suddenly lost his usual restraint. In front of everyone, he forcibly took her away and stubbornly imprisoned her in the courtyard where they had once met.
They surrendered to each other all night, consumed by passion until dawn broke.
Wen Yunci, dazed and weak, curled up in Yuan Xun's arms.
He reached out to soothe her uncontrollable trembling, his voice husky with satisfaction.
"Aci, I am the only one you can call your husband."
He kissed her again. "Just like you did a moment ago."
Please note:
1. They are not biologically related, are six years apart in age, and were never registered under the same household.
2. Includes misunderstandings and amnesia. Please don't read if that's not your thing.
3. Bittersweet, but no tragedy for the heroine.
4. Both are sexually inexperienced, happy ending.
Theme: Steadfast love is the most beautiful thing
