After Saving the Wrong Villain

Cui Kezhen had a dream.

Six years later, a palace coup would erupt in the capital, and the entire Cui household would be convicted.

Her father and brothers would be imprisoned, and she would be confined to the women's quarters.

Late at night, a tall man in black robes came limping toward her.

She couldn't see his face. She only remembered an old scar on his left wrist.

The man trapped her on the bed, pulled open her sash, and asked in a low voice:

"What did you promise me that night during the Shangyuan Festival?"

Cui Kezhen woke with a start.

How could she know what she had promised anyone on the night of the Shangyuan Festival? All she remembered was the man in her dream:

Tall, lame, with a scar on his left wrist.

He would bring her whole family to ruin, then take liberties with her too.

He was utterly insane.

A few days later, she met Wei Ke in the residence.

A servant, lame, with a scar on his left wrist.

Cui Kezhen's heart sank.

It all matched.

The madman in her dream really existed.

To protect her family, Cui Kezhen decided to set him on the right path while he was still young.

When he was beaten, she defended him.

When he had no books, she gave him some.

When his leg was lame, she sought a doctor.

When he wanted to take the civil service exams, she arranged for him to be freed from his servant status and paved the way.

She taught him gratitude and propriety, and taught him to be a gentleman.

Years later, Wei Ke passed the imperial exams with top honors and rose steadily through the ranks.

The gloomy, cold-tempered boy of the past had finally become a gentle and dignified gentleman.

Cui Kezhen was very pleased.

Until she discovered...

She had mistaken him for someone else.

The madman from her dream had actually been another person.

With the date of the palace coup drawing ever closer, Cui Kezhen had no choice but to hastily shift her attention to someone else.

But she failed to notice the eyes watching her from behind, growing colder by the moment.

-

Wei Ke recently realized that Cui Kezhen didn't want him anymore.

The person who used to keep an eye on him every day now devoted herself to another man.

Bringing medicine, running around for him, fussing over him.

Just as she had once done for Wei Ke.

So she had never had him in her heart.

Wei Ke watched for a long time, then suddenly smiled.

How could she not?

She had saved him, protected him, and looked after him for years.

Now she thought she could simply walk away after saying she'd mistaken him for someone else?

There was no such rule in this world.

Wei Ke lowered his eyes and removed the Buddhist prayer beads from his wrist.

She had taught him the ways of a gentleman for years.

But, unfortunately...

Being a gentleman was useless.

It couldn't keep her by his side, nor could it win her from someone else.

Then...

He would stop being one.

1. A clever, clear-eyed noblewoman x a brooding, jealous, false gentleman and mad dog

2. Prophetic dreams, self-persuasion, conquest by force, and a fierce romantic rivalry

3. Alternate Song dynasty setting. The blurb has been screenshotted and archived.

Theme: Fear neither fate nor the past; dare to break through and begin anew