How Can She Compare to Such a Beauty?

[The neighboring novel, Marry Your Younger Brother's Wife, is now out. Feel free to visit my author page and add it to your favorites!]

Shen Dai was the most beautiful woman in the capital, betrothed to the Crown Prince from an early age. But the one-eyed Qi Zhanbai set her up, stripping her family of its title and confiscating their home, leaving her no choice but to marry him.

After the wedding, she and Qi Zhanbai were at odds. She wore makeup over half her face every day and mocked him for having only one eye. Furious, he led his troops to the western border and stayed there for three years without returning.

Later, Shen Dai died with resentment in her heart, only to learn that the person who had framed her family all those years ago was the Crown Prince she had loved so dearly.

To save her, Qi Zhanbai openly defied the emperor's command and married her as his consort. He gave her the best of everything in his palace, while he himself was punished and sent to suffer at the western frontier. In the end, he flew into a rage for her sake, riding a thousand miles from the west to avenge her. Even when branded disloyal and unrighteous, he had no regrets.

Everyone said that Qi Zhanbai, Prince of Xiangdong, was cold and heartless: a god of war who rescued people from ruin amid the flames of conflict, and a demon who slaughtered his way through peacetime.

But looking at him in the heavy snow, standing straight as a sword yet trembling like a withered leaf in the wind, Shen Dai understood that he was neither god nor demon. He was simply the husband who cherished and loved her.

The love he gave her without reservation was the purest feeling in this murky world!

*

In her second life, the Shen family was once again beset by troubles.

Shen Dai came to ask the man for help. He casually twirled a jade ring on his thumb, the corners of his mouth lifting in an arrogant, self-satisfied smile. "Miss Shen expects me to offend the powerful Second Prince, your betrothed, over one absurd dream of yours? Why should I?"

His words were fierce, but his gaze darted away, as if he feared she might notice his blind eye. His awkwardness was strangely endearing.

Suppressing a laugh, Shen Dai took off his mask and let her lips lightly brush his blind eye.

The man was stunned. His cold arrogance vanished in an instant. Blushing, he stammered, "Y-you... have no shame!" Then he fled in a panic.

Shen Dai knew he was embarrassed. What she didn't know was that for the sake of one absurd dream of hers, and that kiss as light as a joke, the man wiped out the entire Second Prince's faction.

He not only saved the Shen family, but also made her his empress.

He spent his life making her beautiful dreams come true.

★ Both leads have only ever loved each other, and their feelings are mutual.

★ The male lead really is blind in one eye at first, but it will be healed later.

★ Inspired by the historical allusion of "half-face makeup." The characters and story have been extensively reimagined and have no connection to history. Please don't nitpick the history! Please don't nitpick the history! Please don't nitpick the history!

Synopsis for Marry Your Younger Brother's Wife:

★ Both leads are virgins; brothers compete for her | Marriage first, love later

★ Gentle beauty X aloof man devoted to Buddhism at first, then a brooding, twisted ghost of a man

Wen Songyi had an excellent marriage prospect.

His name was Li Congxin. Born into a marquis's family, he was lively and spirited, always standing up for her and having her back. He was the brilliant sun in her dreary life at home.

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

It took a great deal of effort, but at last she managed to warm the iceberg and consummate their marriage. She thought their life together was finally going to get better.

Then one day, on a stormy night, she awoke to the sound of thunder. 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" was strolling over from the covered walkway, with nothing about him out of place except for the dampness of the rainy night.

She hurried over and asked, "What happened?"

He simply held her and comforted her gently, as he always did. "Nothing. A thief broke into the house, but it's taken care of. Don't be afraid, Mimi."

His bloodstained hand slipped discreetly into his sleeve.

He clutched a seal engraved with his younger brother Li Congxin's name. Though it still held the warmth of its rightful owner's body, the scent of bodhi incense on him completely masked it.

*

Li Congjia was born into a military family. He joined the army at thirteen, took command at seventeen, and at eighteen crushed an allied army at the border, earning the title of General Who Guards the Nation. His prospects were boundless.

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

It was only after his mother pleaded with him again and again that he put his ordination on hold and returned home to impersonate his missing twin brother and marry in his place.

He was doing no more than repaying the marquis's family for raising him all these years. He didn't think he would fall for her. When 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 merely 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 middle of the night, her smiling eyes filled his dreams, along with her slender hand tugging at his sleeve and the gentle, lilting way she called him "husband"...

Those who covet their brother's wife shall fall into the Avici Hell forever, never to be reborn.

Theme: Do not judge people by appearances. Learn to discover the beauty within others.