The Imperial Princess

[Complete] Chao Jian is the emperor's legitimate daughter, destined to have everything from the moment she is born. A grand carriage with scarlet wheels, painted halls with red curtains, every kind of favor. Her younger brother is the crown prince, and she can take her pick of noble young men. Chao Jian has never known what it feels like to come second. She's always been number one. Until one winter, at the year-end banquet, her emperor father announced to the assembled officials that he would choose a consort for the princess. A few days later, a new study companion joined the crown prince's household. The young man had red lips, white teeth, and a face like fine jade. Chao Jian found him intriguing and gave him a few extra looks. To her surprise, the young man smiled back at her. "Since Your Highness likes me so much, why not choose me as your consort? Then you can look at me every day, all day. You can even stare a hole through me, if you like. How about it?" Chao Jian coolly looked away. "Have this man thrown out." -- Chao Jian disliked Rong Xun from the moment they met. He was slick-tongued, shameless, brazen, and a hopeless womanizer. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more perfect wastrel in the entire capital. She couldn't imagine what had gotten into him, abandoning an easy life to recommend himself as a candidate for her consort. But later, she realized she was wrong. Rong Xun was lying when he said he loved her. He was lying when he said his lifelong goal was to attach himself to a princess and spend the rest of his life eating, drinking, and doing nothing. Even when he gently stroked her cheek and murmured, his voice low and husky, that he would come marry her the following year, he was lying. It turned out he wasn't a useless wastrel at all, and he had never loved her. - - A slick-talking, calculating, cold-hearted little scoundrel on the outside, yet deep down he's a little brother; X a legitimate princess who knows she's beautiful, takes on the whole world, and has a temper bigger than a bull's. A story about two beautiful, strong, tragic souls saving each other. Reader's guide: 1. Includes the "chasing the wife to the crematorium" trope. The male lead is one year younger than the female lead. He's a little beast at first, but later becomes the world's most devoted puppy. 2. This is not an angst story. The blurb describes the male lead's process of digging his own grave. Theme: Though the one you love lies beyond mountains and seas, even mountains and seas can be crossed.