The Beauty Before the Throne

[My new novel, Marrying My Younger Brother's Wife, is now available! Come visit my profile and add it to your collection~]

Jiang Yang was the cherished jewel of the Duke of Zhenguo's household, a radiant beauty born to wealth. She and Crown Prince Wei Jin were deeply in love, envied by countless people.

Then a coup changed everything, and the crown prince was deposed. Pressured by her family, Jiang Yang had no choice but to sever her feelings and become engaged to the new heir to the throne.

On the night they parted, the young man's eyes were bloodshot as he clutched her hand so tightly he nearly crushed her wrist.

But in the end, he only smiled, let her go, and turned away without a backward glance.

A deposed crown prince under house arrest was worse off than a commoner.

No one could have imagined that he would rise again and seize the entire Eastern Palace on the eve of Jiang Yang's wedding.

Jiang Yang became a prisoner. Her family treated her as a discarded pawn and sent her into the palace to curry favor with the new ruler.

When they met again, the young man gripped her chin harshly, his voice scraping like a knife against her ear. “What makes Miss Jiang think I would want a woman who is already betrothed?”

Jiang Yang caught sight of rouge on his sleeve, and her eyes reddened. “Your Majesty already has someone new. Go to her, then. Why keep me here just to humiliate me?”

Tears rolled one by one down her lovely face, each one striking Wei Jin's heart.

That night, everyone from the first-rank ministers to the lowest palace attendants, even foreign envoys, received an urgent summons.

Thinking something terrible had happened, they rushed to the palace.

There they saw the grim, bloodstained emperor frantically wiping the tears of a young woman.

His voice was so gentle it was unrecognizable, and he had even forgotten to address himself as the Son of Heaven.

“I don't have another woman. Really. If you don't believe me, ask them.”

Those summoned in the middle of the night: “...”

- They say this love will end with Jiang Yang, but he insists it is not over: Wei Jin.

★ Both are inexperienced in love, mutual secret crushes, one-on-one romance, no harem

★ Original blurb: February 2019; revised blurb: August 1, 2020

★ The male lead's actions in the blurb have specific reasons and another important purpose. The causes and consequences are clearly explained in the novel, so please don't speculate. Even if you don't like it, please be respectful. Wishing you a happy life, full of sweetness and charm.

Blurb for Marrying My Younger Brother's Wife:

★ Both are inexperienced in love; brothers competing for the same woman | Marriage first, love later

★ Gentle beauty X aloof, devout Buddhist in the beginning, then a gloomy, twisted ghost of a man

Wen Songyi had an excellent match arranged for her.

His name was Li Congxin. Born into a marquis's family, he was spirited and always stood up for her, backing her whenever she needed it. He was the ever-bright sun in the barren days of her sheltered life.

But for some reason, after they married, his temperament changed completely. He stopped talking and barely paid her any attention. At night, he even insisted they sleep in separate beds.

It took her a great deal of effort to finally warm the iceberg and consummate their marriage. She thought things were finally going to get better.

But one day, on a stormy night,

thunder woke her. In a daze, she thought she heard her husband calling for her, his voice filled with anguish.

She hurried out of bed to look for him.

“Li Congxin” came strolling down the corridor, with nothing about him but the dampness of the rainy night.

She hurried after him and asked, “What happened?”

He only held her and comforted her gently, as he always did. “It's nothing. A thief broke into the house, but it's taken care of now. Don't be afraid, Mimi.”

His bloodstained hand slipped unobtrusively beneath his sleeve.

He clutched a seal engraved with his younger brother “Li Congxin's” name. It still held the warmth of its owner, freshly stolen by force, but the scent of bodhi incense on him completely concealed it.

*

Li Congjia was born into a family of generals. He joined the army at thirteen, took command at seventeen, and at eighteen defeated the allied forces at the border passes. He was named General Who Guards the State, with a future as bright as brocade and limitless prospects.

Yet at twenty, he knelt on a prayer mat in a temple, wanting only to become a monk.

Only after his mother begged him again and again did he put off his tonsure and return home to impersonate his missing twin brother, taking his place to welcome the bride.

He was only repaying the Marquis's family for raising him all these years. He didn't think he would fall for her. Once his younger brother returned, everything would go back to normal.

But some people seem destined to be his undoing.

She hadn't done anything special. She only brought him meals and waited for him to come home. Yet he couldn't stop thinking about her, couldn't stop longing for her. In the dead of night, he saw only her smiling eyes, her slender hand resting on his sleeve, and the tender, lilting way she called him “husband”...

Anyone who covets his brother's wife shall fall eternally into Avici Hell, beyond the cycle of reincarnation.

Theme: Youth and love never grow old, even when the road is thorny and one loses the fire and finery of youth.