Hidden Phoenix

[Possessive pursuit, aloof and unhinged imperial older brother x pitiful imperial younger sister with someone else in her heart. Chapter comments are open~] In the fourth year of Jianshi, the emperor made a northern tour. His most beloved younger sister, Princess Le'an, was to marry into the Duke of Wei's household, with an auspicious date chosen for the wedding. On the wedding day, the emperor unexpectedly returned from the northern frontier. Accusing the Duke of Wei's household of treason, he surrounded it with troops. "Have you made up your mind?" On the day she returned to her family home, in Qiluan Hall, Huan Xian spoke in a tender voice and lifted his sister's chin with a finger. "What I want is a docile, obedient canary, not a lifeless puppet with someone else in her heart." They had once been siblings who relied on each other for survival in the Cold Palace. But after that night of passion, there was no going back to the way things had been. Xue Zhi's tears fell like scattered pearls. Despairing, she pressed her cheek against her brother's warm palm. "As long as Your Majesty spares my husband, I'll do anything you ask." From then on, the palace had one fewer Princess Le'an, but one more beauty who was favored day and night. That lasted until the emperor's wedding was near, when she fled with her husband. On Mirror Lake, red lotuses blazed like fire. Inside a cozy, well-kept little house by the lake, the young woman hid in her husband's arms and stared in terror at her older brother standing outside, his wedding robes fluttering and his appearance disheveled. "Brother..." The emperor's gaze was sinister. He still held the silk sash she'd left behind. When he spoke, the sweet, bloody taste of blood welled in his throat. "Le'an, you certainly made your brother search for you." As a child, Xue Zhi loved to run after her older brother, calling him "Brother." Later, that word became her nightmare. [Short blurb] Emperor Jianshi of Huan Chu went on a tour of the northern frontier and was gone for over a month. The first thing he did after returning to the capital was attend the wedding of Princess Le'an and the heir to the Duke of Wei, where he took the bride by force. Princess Le'an was the emperor's younger sister, a beauty whose radiance outshone all others in the capital. Note for anyone looking to nitpick: Jianshi is a reign era, so the form of address is correct. Content warnings: ※ Pseudo-siblings, possessive pursuit, melodrama, and a ruler taking his subject's wife. The heroine and the second male lead are in love, but the hero forcibly claims her. The second male lead breaks up a loving couple and aggressively takes his place. The hero is foul-mouthed and rotten to the core [highlighted]. If that's a dealbreaker, please don't read. ※ Both leads are each other's first. However, readers with very high standards for the heroine's purity should probably stay away. This is a possessive-pursuit story, not a sweet romance dressed up as one. The hero is faithful to his wife but has no morals. You can curse the hero, but please don't curse the adorable author. ※ The leads are not related by blood. The heroine starts off pitiful but will grow stronger later. The story includes emotional suffering for the heroine and physical suffering for the hero (he gets stabbed). Heroine devotees, please do not read [highlighted]. ※ All poems and classical Chinese texts appearing in the story are quotations, not the author's original work. ※ This novel is part of the same series and Huan Chu world as Beauty Is Hard to Woo, which is in the author's collection. The short blurb and the idea for this story date from 2020.08.11. My next novel: Folding Spring Grass #marriage-before-love + fallen-from-grace aloof beauty + possessive pursuit + brothers fighting over a wife# Xie Mingting, heir to the Marquis of Chenliu, is talented in both letters and arms, virtuous and refined. He earned the empress's favor before turning twenty, and his future was bright as he reformed the laws and introduced new policies. But in his life, he made one terrible mistake. His younger brother died in the south before his bride had even entered the family. Their mother ordered him to marry in his brother's place and provide an heir for him. He thought that as the man in charge of the empire's laws, he was impartial and would never fall in love. Once he had done as his mother asked, everything would return to normal. But on his wedding night, flower shadows covered the ground and phoenix candles shone brightly. In their glow, his bride shyly lifted her eyes. "Husband." Her bright eyes were like autumn waters, like a lotus blooming on a lake. Xie Mingting's hand paused as he lifted her veil, as if that lotus had fallen into his heart and sent ripples spreading through it. The Book of Wei's Laws states: Anyone who has relations with his brother's wife shall be exiled two thousand li. * Shi Yin thought her husband had changed. Before their marriage, he was openhearted and cheerful. He disregarded their difference in status, and after a chance encounter during the Lantern Festival, he sent the formal betrothal gifts to ask for her hand. So even knowing that he didn't have long to live, she married him without hesitation. But after the wedding, her husband's nature changed completely. He became distant and cold. It took a great deal of effort before she finally consummated the marriage with him, and their relationship was sweet enough. Until one day, her real husband returned to the capital to visit his family and see his new bride. She was framed as having died and locked in a secret room in the residence. The person behind it was none other than the man who administered justice throughout the empire and shared her bed every night, her good "husband," the eldest Xie son, Xie Mingting. That day, believing her husband had died in battle, her mother-in-law had ordered his older brother to marry her in his place, so that the family line could continue. The loving, harmonious marriage she had believed in was nothing more than a lie... In the cold, dark room, a chilly hand brushed her cheek. "Yinyin... I was the first to meet you, and I'm the one who married you. Why do you have to choose him?" Content warnings: A delicate beauty vs. a refined scoundrel, a supposedly aloof older brother, and a lively, beautiful, clingy puppy-like younger brother. The older brother is the hero. Both leads are each other's first.