Shy and Sweet

The year he helped the young emperor ascend the throne and became Grand Commander, he was twenty-eight.

That same year, he raised the nephew entrusted to him by his late elder brother to adulthood.

He personally chose a bride for his nephew, honoring his late brother's last wishes. He watched his nephew marry and enter the bridal chamber.

The next morning, the newlyweds came to pay their respects to him, their faces flushed.

The bride had risen late, making him wait half an incense stick longer.

He thought nothing of it, slowly skimming the foam from his tea with the lid. Yet out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed the bride standing behind his nephew, nervously clutching his sleeve. Her nose was pink, her face delicate and youthful, still carrying a hint of childishness.

His nephew took her hand and comforted her. “Don't be afraid,” he said. “This is your little uncle.”

He set down his teacup and looked at her with lowered eyes, his expression calm.

Just then, the bride looked up. Their eyes met. She shrank back a little, then curled her soft eyelashes and gave him a faint smile.

“Little Uncle,” she whispered timidly, her voice tender and pitiful.

When his nephew's ship sank at sea, leaving no body behind, she called to him just as pitifully.

“Little Uncle.”

The young bride lay weakly beneath him, tears streaming down her face, her sorrow endless.

She timidly wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Could you... could you give me a child?”

To leave an heir for his nephew.

*

Angsty, slow-burn, mostly romance, little plot.

Female lead is inexperienced, male lead is not / the nephew isn't dead / the old house catches fire / 12-year age gap. Read with caution if these bother you.

Theme: None