After Humiliating My Powerful Childhood Friend

[Insecure, uptight, brooding aristocrat x flirtatious beauty and wicked woman]

Ruan Qing'an's parents were celebrated war heroes, but both died tragically.

Yan Xingzhi, the boy she was betrothed to as a child, was also adopted by the emperor, just like her.

They were very close when they were young, but after Ruan Qing'an spent several years living a brazen, flirtatious life, Yan Xingzhi began keeping his distance.

Fine, whatever. They still had a marriage contract.

But whenever Ruan Qing'an flirted with the young men and women of the court, Yan Xingzhi would always show up, call her shameless, then inexplicably storm off.

Before long, Ruan Qing'an would be impeached.

She had no idea what she'd done to upset him. Gritting her teeth, she swore to get even.

So, on the day of the imperial hunt, when Yan Xingzhi was badly wounded, she had him tied up and brought back to her quarters, then locked him away in shackles.

Wasn't he always lecturing her with that stern expression?

Didn't he always dress impeccably, buttoned right up to the collar?

Didn't he hate her more than anyone?

In the dim room, Ruan Qing'an looked at Yan Xingzhi and laughed.

Today, she would keep him locked in here and shatter the abstinence he was so proud of.

*

The last thing Yan Xingzhi saw before losing consciousness was Ruan Qing'an's sinister smile.

That woman had actually drugged a hidden arrow and shot it at him. She really was incorrigible.

When he woke, he saw her face again.

The woman sneered. "Lord Yan, when you made me get impeached day after day, did you ever think this might happen?"

Of course not.

He angrily berated her in humiliation, only to be treated even more disgracefully.

Fine. She would get even worse from here on out.

She would treat him like a dog and make him do all kinds of unspeakable things.

Gradually, Yan Xingzhi went from cursing her to silence, and eventually even began to look forward to it now and then.

One day, after Ruan Qing'an had left, Yan Xingzhi glanced at his slightly loosened shackles and narrowed his eyes, a strange feeling stirring in his heart.

Fix them before she comes back.

He could no longer leave this place, or live without this life.

2026.9.8

Theme: I hate you, but I love you even more