After I Pretended to Humiliate the Cold, Powerful Minister

As the reigning emperor's only full-blooded elder sister, Meng Ciyin was anything but what her name suggested.

The eldest princess was spoiled and domineering, and ruthless to boot. She poisoned her husband and crippled both his legs, then brazenly snatched the top scholar off the street.

Along the ten-mile avenue, in a red-felt-covered carriage, the eldest princess looked down on Xie Yinhe and took him into her household as though bestowing a favor.

He treated her with respect on the surface, but loathed her in his heart.

Xie Yinhe suffered every humiliation in the eldest princess's residence. After rising to the position of chancellor, he naturally paid her back twofold.

Meng Ciyin had enjoyed a life of glory, only to end up imprisoned for years and pierced through the heart by ten thousand arrows.

By good fortune, she was reborn at nineteen, when everything could still be put right.

-

Xie Yinhe began to sense that something was amiss.

He had assumed that the eldest princess and her husband were at each other's throats, bound by endless resentment.

He had assumed that the eldest princess had fallen for him at first sight and taken him by force.

Yet she only humiliated him openly for two days, then quickly had someone set him free.

But he refused to leave. He wanted to see what new trick this princess had up her sleeve.

So he watched coldly as the eldest princess and her disabled husband lived in perfect harmony, tender and devoted to each other, day after day.

That night, Xie Yinhe knocked on Meng Ciyin's door. His usual composure had deserted him, and his ears reddened as he said, "Your Highness, the consort is feeling unwell. I... I can help you with your troubles."

Through the door, the consort gently bit her. "Your Highness, look at him."

*The female lead has never been with anyone; all male characters are virgins. My own take on an ancient-style romance, with plenty of fictionalized details. An alternate setting, with a one-on-one ending.

*The female lead has no moral scruples and isn't a perfect character. Read with caution.

Theme: The rise and fall of two lifetimes