The Consort's Downfall Handbook

Li Rongjia, Princess of Lincheng, was the most noble woman in the capital. Arrogant and domineering, she dared, at the age of fifteen, to demand before the entire court that the Left Chancellor's son be sent beyond the frontier as a husband to secure peace. She even punished her own aunt by making her kneel outside the palace gates for hours.

Yun Huai, second son of the Prince of Pingyang, was intelligent and well-mannered, well versed in the Classics of Zhou, refined and dignified, and strikingly handsome. Though his wedding to Miss Jiang was fast approaching, countless noblewomen still admired him from afar.

Then the winds shifted. The Prince of Pingyang's household and the Jiang family both fell into ruin. Li Rongjia toyed with the vivid rouge on her fingernails and smiled at the dignified young man kneeling straight-backed before her. "I can help, but in exchange, I want Young Master Yun."

Yun Huai loathed Li Rongjia. He hated her vicious heart, hated her for destroying his engagement, hated the humiliation she inflicted from her lofty position. He hated how she had casually ruined his entire life with the words, "I simply adore watching a brilliant pearl fall into the mud and remain tainted forever." Day and night, he wanted to kill her and repay her humiliation a millionfold.

But later, when Li Rongjia finally agreed to let him divorce her, she said, bored, that she had grown tired of him, then turned around and smiled as she coaxed a shy young man into becoming her consort.

Yun Huai panicked. Grabbing the hem of her skirt, his eyes red, he admitted his mistake. "I know I was wrong. Please, Your Highness, take back your decree."

Someone asked Li Rongjia, "Back then you called him Ah Huai every other word and spent fortunes to make him smile. Why don't you pamper him anymore?"

Li Rongjia smiled. "Doing it for a day or two can be fun, but when someone is ungrateful day after day, why should I keep indulging him? It's not as if I can't find other amusements."

A gender-swapped version of a coercive romance? Yes! The male lead falls first and is always kept under her thumb? Yes! The male lead despises himself and willingly sinks further into ruin? Yes! The female lead takes advantage of someone in trouble purely because of her rotten nature. That's right, she's just having fun.

The entire story follows a prince consort being emotionally manipulated until he falls apart and gives in.

That was the whole idea. I got my fix.

Saved on 2021-04-11.

Theme: Without a legitimate name, words cannot be proper; without proper words, nothing can be accomplished.