The Two Swallows Return

[Upcoming novel] Calamity Beauty. Please add it to your reading list! Blurb below.

[Blurb] A famous actress transmigrates into a script and becomes the character she is about to play. After three years of acting, she finally makes it to the part where her character dies. She fakes her death and escapes, thinking she can now roam free. But then she takes advantage of a handsome young man and runs straight into the male lead, a brick wall she can't get past.

What was meant to be nothing more than a brief affair becomes an obsession for him, and he keeps her by his side as his mistress. At first, he only wants her for her beauty. Later, he falls too deep without realizing it.

When they first meet, she has blood on her lips and begs him to save her. Like a demoness from another world, she ensnares him, and he becomes caught in a fate he can never escape.

Jing Yan was supposed to spend his life mired in court intrigue, never understanding love until the day he died. She alone was an unforeseen twist in the life laid out for him. She draws him in, and though he knows she's his downfall, he willingly steps into the trap.

"I once thought nothing in the world could move me except the vast realm beneath the throne. Then I met her and learned what it means to be bound by love. She lied and said she loved me, and toyed with me as if I were in the palm of her hand, yet I can't let her go..."

Jing Yan

A bewitching, soul-devouring heroine vs. a cruel, possessive emperor

[Upcoming novel] Calamity Beauty

When Qin Yu first fell in love as a young man, he had a dream. In the imperial hall, his dragon robe was stained and ragged. Below the dragon throne, a woman with her clothes half undone crawled toward him, pleading in a whisper.

She begged him to spare her, tears streaming down her face.

That dream tormented Qin Yu for ten years. For a decade, he rode into battle and conquered the four corners of the realm. The empire was within his grasp, yet he could never forget those tearful eyes from his dream.

Later, Qin Yu conquered Jiangnan and brought down the old dynasty. After the victory banquet, drunk and resting in the former residence of the Jiangnan royal family, he happened upon a woman.

She wore a red bridal gown, her beauty breathtaking. She slept in a box full of pearls, and she was unmistakably the woman from his dream.

Dazed, Qin Yu thought he was still dreaming. In his drunkenness, he gave himself permission to indulge and joined her in a passionate embrace, just as in the dream.

At midnight, he woke from his drunken stupor and realized that none of it had been a dream.

The young woman in his arms was much younger than the one in his dream, and the smear of red on the bed confirmed what had happened.

Qin Yu's grip grew unrestrained. He clutched the woman by the shoulders, at a loss for words.

The woman frowned in pain, reached up to wipe away her tears, and bit her lip until it bled. In a low voice, she said, "I am Zhen, widow of the heir to the Prince of Qi. I pay my respects to the general."

Theme: Showing how precious it is to retain a wholehearted sincerity even after enduring many hardships.