Captive Beauty (Reborn)

[Content warnings in the author's note. Thank you for supporting the official version. Pirated copies and reviews are not welcome.]

*Please add my upcoming novel, The Jade Waist, to your reading list! Blurb below.*

Xu Shuhua was the envy of every young woman in the capital, a lady of noble birth betrothed to the Crown Prince, Fu Ran.

But on the eve of her wedding, an imperial decree ordering a political marriage arrived.

The Crown Princess would be someone else. Xu Shuhua was to be only a secondary consort, carried into the Eastern Palace in a sedan chair that very night.

Everyone knew her as cool and proud. Surely she would never accept such humiliation.

That night, Fu Ran lifted her veil and apologized from the bottom of his heart, promising to treat her well. He had even carefully planned how to handle her coldness.

But she smiled sweetly, raised a hand to wind around his neck, and leaned close to his ear like a little demon. "Then, Your Highness, you'd better keep your word..."

At first, Fu Ran was simply curious about how much this woman loved him.

Later, he found himself captivated by every one of her soft calls of "Your Highness."

And later still, he wanted to give her everything, if only she would ask.

Who could have known that she would take everything, yet want nothing to do with him?

"Fu Ran, this is what you owed me in your previous life."

[The Chase-Your-Wife-to-the-Crematorium Bonus Scene]

After the border rebellion was quelled, the Western Regions sent many exotic gifts as tribute.

Fu Ran: "Send them all to the Empress's palace for her to enjoy."

Li Mao: "Your Majesty, Her Highness just said she won't accept anything from you ever again."

Fu Ran: "But these aren't mine. They're tribute from the Western Regions."

Li Mao: "..."

Neighboring kingdoms offered beautiful women one after another, but the Emperor accepted none into his harem.

Fu Ran: "I already have an Empress. Send this one to Grand Tutor Li."

Fu Ran: "That one is too ugly. Send her to serve General Shen."

Fu Ran: "You can have the rest. Don't let the Empress see them and get annoyed."

Li Mao: "???"

*If you want to read a sweet story where the second male lead wins, you can skip straight to the extras.*

Content warnings:

*The heroine is not kind-hearted. Both leads are sexually inexperienced after being reborn. The hero is a scumbag who is reborn later and chases his wife to the crematorium. The male lead does not change. Happy ending (or perhaps not entirely happy). Fictional dynasty, no historical nitpicking, please.*

[Blurb finalized on July 8, 2020. Screenshot saved.]

Upcoming novel: The Jade Waist. Please add it to your reading list!

[Blurb]

Everyone knew Yue Azhi, the famed courtesan of Jiangnan, whose slender waist and graceful dancing had made her famous throughout the land. Countless princes and nobles spent fortunes just to see her dance.

Yet there was only one man who loved to watch her, drenched in sweat and tearfully begging him to stop.

She respected him, but she also feared him.

Whenever she dreamed of the past, his cold, sinister voice echoed in her ears: "Azhi, no one can take you from me. No one."

**

The thirteenth prince, unloved by the emperor, once found a filthy little mute on the street.

He taught her to speak and trained her as a dancer. When she turned sixteen, he sent her to Jiangnan to serve as an important pawn in his intelligence network.

Everyone knew Helian Che kept countless women in his residence who resembled the famous Jiangnan courtesan Yue Azhi. Some had her face, others her mannerisms.

But he never touched a single one. Night after night, he only called out her name in his dreams.

Yet she wanted to run away with a man she had met only three times!

Helian Che was furious. He locked her up under close guard until he finally gained power. The first thing he did was bring her to the capital

That night, she said not a word besides crying.

He gently kissed away her tears, his thumb caressing her swollen lips, and murmured, "Azhi, call me your husband."

*Possessive pursuit and forced love / ten-year age gap / sexually inexperienced leads / happy ending*

*Fictional dynasty. No historical nitpicking, please.*

Theme: Fate is in our own hands. Only those who are worthy can find love.