After My Unhinged Childhood Friend Stole Me Away on My Wedding Day

Proud princess × unhinged hostage prince

Childhood friends | possessive love | love and hate | both pure in body and heart | Happy ending

The kingdoms are divided, and conflict never ends.

Feng Zhiying remains the most carefree little princess in the Yue palace, doted on by her father and brothers and adored by all. The only person who ever gets the better of her is Helian Chong.

He won't accept her sweets or show up when invited. Even when she's being punished and begs for mercy, his cold "Please calm down, Princess" sounds like a handout.

She can't stand it, so she makes his life even harder.

She hides his books, blocks his way, and makes him stand in the cold wind for hours.

Then, in the year she comes of age, her father decides to marry her off to the state of Liang.

Unwilling to become a political pawn, she sets aside her pride for the first time and knocks on his door. She removes her hairpin and offers him a kiss, only to receive the icy response, "Princess, please have some self-respect."

Furious, she slaps him. "You ungrateful wretch!"

On her wedding day, her grand bridal procession has just reached the border when the earth suddenly trembles and the red bridal carriage overturns.

Helian Chong, clad in armor and bearing a weapon, cuts open her phoenix-and-dragon veil with a merciless blade. Behind him stand countless former Yan soldiers, all looking ready to tear her apart.

Later, he keeps her captive in his tent. Amid their ragged breaths, he kisses her tear-damp lashes. "Princess, who's the ungrateful one now?"

*

His father died, his mother followed him in death, and his puppet uncle sold out the kingdom to steal the throne. At thirteen, Helian Chong was sent to Yue as a hostage.

After five years lying low, he secretly allies with the new ruler of Liang. He offers five border cities and Princess Yongle in exchange for three thousand Liang cavalrymen.

He hates the King of Yue, the state of Yue, and most of all, her.

He hates her haughty manner. He hates how her words, "You ungrateful wretch," drove him mad enough to launch his rebellion early.

So he will have his revenge. He will make her his prisoner, his darling in the tent.

He will have her beneath him each night, breaking her pride bit by bit.

[Reading notes and content warnings]

1. Includes forced romance. The male lead is cold and brooding, a man of few words who acts instead.

2. Their push-and-pull includes both cold wars and hot wars, in every sense of the phrase.

3. The female lead has a growth arc, but this is not a story about a powerful heroine.

4. The name was inspired by the Tao Te Ching: "Great fullness seems empty, yet its use is inexhaustible."

Theme: Take one step back and the world opens up. Take one step forward and you can have it all