The Scheming Beauty

[Content warning: The female lead is not kind and virtuous. She's a scheming white lotus, a woman of the past with traditional values.]

In her fourth year as a servant in the Duke's estate, Yun Li caught the eye of one of the duke's illegitimate sons, leaving her future uncertain. At the same time, the Duchess wanted to find a concubine for her heir, who had been married for years but had no children. The heir was a man of noble birth, handsome and refined, and much favored by the emperor. However, he had no desire to take a concubine.

That night, Yun Li knelt before him, her expression respectful and humble. "Yun Li is willing to pretend to share a bed with the heir, to put Madam at ease."

After coaxing him into bed, Yun Li bit her red lips and whispered in his ear, "Surely the heir needs a child? Once Yun Li has borne one, I'll accept whatever you decide to do with me."

When he said he would take her only as a concubine, Yun Li's little face turned pale. Weeping, she begged him to let her leave. "If I stay by your side, I'll become dissatisfied with being your concubine. I'll turn into the kind of person I hate most."

At first, Pei Yu'an only wanted to ease the tension between them. Later, without realizing it, he began to feel for her. Then he agreed to raise their child himself, and finally promised to marry her.

Remembering all that had happened, he entered with a dark expression.

When Yun Li saw him, she beamed and threw herself into his arms. "Husband, A Yuan said 'Papa' today!"

Pei Yu'an: "..."

A little scene where the scheme backfires:

The refined man's eyes reddened, veins bulging on his forehead as he stared at her. "What exactly do you take me for?"

Her slender hand rested on his shoulder. Yun Li smiled at him, her voice sweet and alluring. "Why, you're... my man."

This story is also titled A Woman's Lies and He Thought He Was in a Heart Full of Virtue, but It Was Actually an Empty House Belonging to a Scheming Woman.

A word of warning:

Scheming beauty who gets caught in her own scheme x noble gentleman who may turn dark

Completely fictional setting.

Please add my upcoming novel to your collection. Click my author page to find His Empress.

Blurb:

The emperor is tyrannical and unjust, and heroes rise up across the land.

At sixteen, Cui Xu raised an army along the river. At seventeen, he won against the odds and marched straight into Guanzhong. But at nineteen, he met his most formidable enemy.

Lu Heng of Mingzhou, the Prince of Ning's eldest son, was cunning and resourceful. Cui Xu had nearly died because of him twice. He was a dangerous enemy who had to be eliminated.

At twenty-two, Cui Xu finally defeated Mingzhou. But he failed to capture the calculating Lu Heng. In the secret passage beneath the Ning Palace, he found only Lu Heng's younger sister, the frail and pitiful Lu Yao.

**

In the second year of Shanghe, the second year of Cui Xu's reign, he received a shocking piece of news.

Ten years ago, the Prince of Ning's child who died young was not his second daughter, Lu Jia, but his eldest son, Lu Heng.

Empress Lu Yao had somehow angered the emperor and was imprisoned in a secret dungeon.

The capital was instantly gripped by fear and suspicion.

Cui Xu had yet to decide what to do with the "wife" who had shared his bed for two years when his empress somehow managed to turn his trusted adviser, General of the Cavalry, against him. She vanished from the dungeon without a trace.

What's more, before she left, she left him an insolent letter.

"Cui Xu, we've known each other for over ten years, and you've never truly beaten me."

"I'm leaving. Husband, take good care of yourself and make sure our son keeps his throne."

"Your loving wife, Lu Jia."

"That's right, my surname is Lu and my given name is Jia."

And somehow, she'd secretly slipped him a drug that left him impotent.

Cui Xu was enraged. This humiliation was beyond anything he could bear. He would hunt Lu Jia down even if he had to search the heavens and scour the underworld, then hack her to pieces to satisfy his hatred.

For three whole years, Cui Xu searched every inch of the land. At last, one day, he caught Lu Jia, who had been living freely for all that time.

He had imagined Lu Jia would be radiant, rosy-cheeked, and carefree, perhaps bold enough to have taken a new lover.

But now, she was sitting in a wheelchair, thin and frail, her body ravaged by illness. She clearly didn't have long to live. When she saw him, she panicked and almost stumbled out of her wheelchair.

The dim moonlight fell across Cui Xu's tall figure. Gritting his teeth, he stared at the frail, emaciated woman before him. Fighting off a strange pang of pain, he sneered, "Lu Jia, look what you've become without me."

**

Theme: Even in the face of adversity, never give up.