Sworn Brother

[Fake Siblings / Redemption]

After a military defeat, Zhu Wan’s sworn elder brother, Zhou Yan, died in battle, and the Eastern Palace also broke off her engagement.

With rumors spreading throughout the capital, Zhu Wan left town to visit her maternal grandparents and clear her head. On the way, she met someone very strange.

His name was Chen Yu. He had an ordinary face, but his mannerisms drew an unusual amount of attention.

The more time Zhu Wan spent with him, the more she thought of her sworn elder brother, who had died young.

But her elder brother had been a young general famed throughout the capital, fierce and sharp, proud and untamed.

The man before her, on the other hand, had an unremarkable face and indistinct features.

Her brother was a loyal, capable general who had fought bloody battles on the front lines.

Chen Yu, standing before her, was the ringleader of a rebel faction, bent on overthrowing the throne.

Knowing full well there could be no happy ending, she still fell for that damned rebel leader.

So she decided never to see him again.

On the night before they parted, in a courtyard where the water gleamed clear beneath the moonlight, she watched Chen Yu tear off his disguise, revealing a beautiful, deathly pale face just like her own.

A face exactly like Zhou Yan’s.

-

After a charity home caught fire, Zhou Yan was adopted by the Chancellor’s residence.

On the day he arrived, his burns had not yet healed, and his vision was still blurry. Despite the pain wracking his body, he summoned all his strength to stand tall.

There were no thuggish beggars in the Chancellor’s residence to bully him, only a soft little dumpling, the darling of the hundred or so people who lived there.

Every day, the little darling would sneak into his room and read to him, teary-eyed and stumbling over the words. She kept at it for years.

The day his eyes recovered, beneath the hazy, yellow candlelight, the lovely face he saw became the obsession and demon of his heart for the rest of his life.

#He is a rebel general, a sworn elder brother, and her lover.

[One startling glimpse in spring, and I resent the gods for saving others but not me.]

[One-on-one romance, both leads have had no prior partners]

There is no romance before adulthood. The capital arc is short, and the romance begins after they reunite away from the capital.

The male lead may not exactly be a good person. In his previous life, his experiences made him more extreme in his actions.

[Check out my upcoming novel]

[Second Chance Romance / Male Substitute / Winning Her Back]

Shi Yao approached him with nothing but ulterior motives, and Rong Jie knew it from the very beginning.

When she was supposed to gaze at him with tender affection, her eyes brimmed with longing, as though she had a thousand things to say but was too shy to speak.

When she was supposed to show him how deeply she cared, she shyly offered him a sachet, casually revealing her red, swollen fingertips.

He was cold-hearted and arrogant, but even knowing all this, he paid it no mind.

He let her approach him time and again, allowed her schemes, and shielded her from the cold arrows aimed her way.

Whatever she wanted, all she had to do was ask, and he would grant it.

She came to deceive him into loving her,

while he waited for her to obediently offer him her true heart.

But then the winds shifted overnight, and the situation took a sudden turn. An old case involving the false imperial bloodline came to light, and someone else took his place as crown prince.

In the misty rain, he saw her standing beneath another man’s umbrella, smiling sweetly as she nestled into the arms of the new crown prince.

The drizzle fell like threads, each one cutting into his heart. Rong Jie stared at her expressionlessly for a long time, then suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

-

On the eve of the newly appointed crown prince’s wedding, the capital was thrown into turmoil overnight.

When Shi Yao entered the palace at the Emperor’s command, she still had no idea that power in the palace had changed hands.

She was wearing the dress Rong Zhang had given her, with the hairpins and jewelry he had gifted her in her hair.

Then she looked up and unexpectedly met a familiar face.

Rong Jie idly toyed with the marriage contract, which was supposed to be read aloud in a few days, as he slowly approached her.

One by one, he removed the hairpins from her temples, his gaze deep and dark.

“When you pursued me, you said it was love at first sight, and that you wanted to grow old with me.”

“Liar.”

Theme: If you love someone, be brave enough to fight for them.