Tales from the Cage

[Both leads are virgins / 1v1 / captivity and twists / healing, probably]

Everyone says the crown prince is refined and noble, gentle and courteous, humble with others, and destined to become a pillar of the nation.

But Chu Xue knows what a mad dog Li Chengxuan really is.

On the day Li Chengxuan returned, he appeared in Chu Xue's room. "Ah Xue, it's been a while."

Chu Xue turned her face away and told him, "Your Highness shouldn't be here. I'm getting married soon."

Li Chengxuan drew closer, smiling gently. "Married with my child in your belly?"

Li Chengxuan spent his childhood in the Cold Palace, hungry and tormented.

That winter, the waters of Jing Lake were so cold they seemed to seep into his bones. Li Chengxuan thought that if he survived, he would make those people pay tenfold, a hundredfold.

Later, he did survive. A gentle little girl saved him. Her name was Chu Xue.

She said, "Don't be afraid."

She was like a ray of light, the only one in the palace.

"Ah Xue, the morals people teach you are nothing but shackles meant to tame you. You should trust me, and you can only trust me. No one in this world can be trusted but me."

"But what you tell me is no less a shackle meant to tame me. I am a person with a mind of my own, not your tool, and I don't belong to you. I don't have to obey you, either. I will judge for myself what kind of person I am, whether I've done right or wrong, and... whether I love you or not."

Divider

"Stolen Joy"

Ji Chenghuan was forced to marry someone she didn't love, so she plotted to elope with her lover, only to be caught and brought back to the Ji family.

Her father believed she had brought shame on the family and wanted her executed.

Her adoptive elder brother, Ji Chengyun, visited her late at night and taught her a way out.

"Just say you're carrying my child, and I can save you."

Ji Chengyun was so tender and caring that Ji Chenghuan believed him and pretended to be pregnant.

She thought it was just a lie, but her belly grew bigger by the day, and in the end, the lie became the truth.

Along with it came her marriage to Ji Chengyun.

Only then did she realize just how hypocritical Ji Chengyun was.

*Everyone knows the male and female leads are not related by blood.

*Both leads are virgins.

Theme: Sincere love can heal the darkness in a person's heart.