The Golden Cage

Abandoned. Don't start reading. I've lost the feel for it and can't write anymore. (1) In the fifth year of Qilong, Prince Jin, Zhao Zongmin, was ordered by the emperor to travel to Yuzhou and provide disaster relief. As he compassionately aided the disaster victims, he deliberately laid a trap and rescued Liang Yan, the long-lost niece of his archenemy. Prince Jin detested the girl. She was dirty, ugly, and frail, and she fawned over him with servile obsequiousness. She wouldn't leave when he sent her away or run off when he cursed at her. She was irritating and nauseating. (2) Liang Yan had always regarded Prince Jin as a god. Everything the prince said was law. Her skin had to be smooth and fair, her waist so slender it seemed impossible to hold. Her outward appearance had to be that of a refined, demure lady of good family, while inside she had to be as bewitching and wanton as a brothel courtesan. She had to be his beautiful blade, loyal to him and willing to do the things that had to be kept in the dark. At first, she took pride in sacrificing herself for the prince. Gradually, she realized she was trapped in a suffocating web of control. She wanted to escape this endless, gloomy life, so she went to the prince with a deal: she would assassinate his archenemy's beloved adopted son, Tang Shen Yu, the great general guarding Jingzhou, in exchange for her freedom. (3) Prince Jin knew the assassination could never succeed. Tang Yu was exceptionally clever, ruthless, and uninterested in women. He tortured assassins mercilessly, with methods so atrocious they were hard to imagine. So he waited for A-Yan to give up on her own. But he never expected A-Yan to go through with it. He expected even less that A-Yan would come back in one piece. Only, A-Yan had changed. She resisted his touch, didn't want to listen to him, and wouldn't even spare him a fake smile. He thought A-Yan was simply upset that her mission had failed, and that a little patient coaxing would set things right. If not, he could always grant her the favor of entering the prince's residence. Her status was low and her character tainted, so she was unfit to be his princess consort, but she might do as a concubine. Who knew she would refuse? He couldn't make sense of it. He secretly looked through the discarded practice sheets from A-Yan's calligraphy lessons, and his heart gave a jolt. The rice paper was covered with another man's name. Prince Jin calmly teased the thrush in its cage and smiled. "This little thing's gotten a mind of its own. I'd better break both its wings, so it can't fly off to another branch..." -- The cover has been licensed. Theme: Never give up. Break free of constraints, fight an unjust fate, and embrace all the beauty still to come.