I Became Empress After Breaking Off My Engagement

[Looking for advance readers for The Substitute Princess Turns Dark and After My Contract Marriage to the Young Marquis. Their blurbs are after this one.]

Shi Ying is the legitimate daughter of the Duke of An's household, beautiful and born to privilege. She also has a promising engagement arranged since childhood. Her fiance, Prince Wei, is adored by the emperor and stands just one step away from becoming heir to the throne.

On the eve of her wedding, Shi Ying has a dream. In it, Prince Qi Mu Zhuo takes her by force, destroys her engagement, and makes her his consort.

An imperial decree orders their marriage. The noble young lady becomes a laughingstock in the capital. She loses her fiance and is abandoned by her family, with no choice but to follow Mu Zhuo to the northern frontier. After she gives herself to him one drunken night, the anguish inside her finally becomes unbearable, and she leaps from a towering pavilion.

Her soul drifts through the world as she watches him enter the Eastern Palace and ascend the throne. He never takes another wife for the rest of his life.

Meanwhile, Prince Wei, who had showered her with sweet words and promised, "Of three thousand beauties, I would choose only you," is a hypocrite who is nothing like he seems. He abandoned her for his own gain, then promptly brought into his home the mistress he had been secretly keeping at another residence.

When Shi Ying wakes, she follows clues from her dream and finds proof that Prince Wei has been secretly keeping a mistress. She decisively demands to break off their engagement.

Prince Wei tries to coax her into changing her mind, but she ignores him, her thoughts complicated as she thinks of Mu Zhuo.

She had planned to cooperate with him just once, solely to ruin Prince Wei's reputation.

But in this bargain, in which each was meant to get what they wanted, she found a priceless treasure beyond all measure.

-

Mu Zhuo has been in love with Shi Ying for years, but she was already betrothed to Prince Wei.

As her wedding drew near, he was plotting to take her for himself when he had a dream.

In the dream, he went to every length to marry her, but never again saw even the slightest smile on her face. In the end, she turned away without hesitation, leaving him only her back.

That day, snow blanketed the ground. She lay in a pool of blood, without a breath left in her. He jolted awake, the heart-rending pain still unnervingly vivid.

When they met again, Shi Ying stepped forward to greet him.

Mu Zhuo retreated half a step. "Stay away from me."

Shi Ying: ?

-

Later, she became his wife. On their wedding night, the sea of red before him stirred the nightmare he could not bear to remember. Just as he turned to leave, she wrapped her arms around his waist from behind.

Holding him, she sighed softly, "On a night as beautiful as this, Your Highness, how can you leave me behind?"

This time, she would help him seize the highest throne, and was willing to spend the long years of his life at his side.

-A calculating prince with a hidden dark side vs. a flower of wealth and beauty

-One-on-one romance, happy ending. The leads are each other's one and only, body and soul. Their relationship is about comforting and saving each other, while their careers thrive through mutual support.

-The heroine doesn't love the scumbag. She was simply brainwashed from childhood into believing she had to marry him. In her previous life, her despair was the result of years of influence from her parents and the scumbag. In this life, she wakes up and cuts her losses in time. She is no pushover or selfless saint, and every scoundrel will get what's coming to them.

-The setting is a fictional dynasty. No historical nitpicking, and please refrain from personal attacks.

[Looking for advance readers for After My Contract Marriage to the Young Marquis, a lighthearted sweet story about love after marriage.]

The Pei clan helped the founding emperor seize the throne and was made a princely house with a different surname, bearing the title Prince Duanping. Pei Xu, heir to Prince Duanping, was born to a life of wealth and privilege. He grew up in the palace as the crown prince's study companion. Handsome, talented, and skilled in both letters and martial arts, he became the dream lover of countless noble young ladies in the capital.

The emperor intended to have him marry a princess, but a princess's consort was subject to many restrictions, and Pei Xu had no desire to take on such a burdensome role. After much thought, Prince Duanping sought help from the Marquis of Yongning, with whom he was on excellent terms.

The two came up with a plan. Yu Qingyao, the Marquis of Yongning's youngest daughter, who had been raised in a Taoist temple since childhood, was brought back to the household and married to Pei Xu under the pretext of a childhood betrothal. This allowed Prince Duanping's household to refuse the emperor's arranged match.

Before the wedding, Yu Qingyao received assurances from her father and Prince Duanping. She only needed to play the role of the heir's wife. After a year or so, once the princess was married off, she could take her payment and divorce Pei Xu.

She could stay in a magnificent princely mansion, enjoy food and comfort with servants at her beck and call, and even earn a hefty sum for her trouble.

Yu Qingyao: This deal can't lose!

As for acting, she was confident she could do it. She was determined to play her part to the fullest and earn every bit of her generous fee.

She didn't expect to act so convincingly that she fooled her fake husband, too.

-

Pei Xu knows his marriage to Yu Qingyao is only a convenient arrangement. He just wants to end this marriage in name only as soon as possible and regain his freedom.

Who would have thought she would fall for him and seem to want to turn their act into reality?

Pei Xu: Remember your place. Don't covet what isn't yours.

Seeing her look dejected, he turns and walks away without a second thought.

What a joke. He wouldn't even look twice at a princess from the imperial family, so how could he possibly like a mere daughter of a marquis?

But little by little, he discovers that Yu Qingyao is quite capable. His parents treat her as their own daughter, his stern and old-fashioned grandmother takes a liking to her, and the crown prince is kind to her. Even the princess who had been determined to marry him finds the perfect match with Yu Qingyao's help and comes to regard her as a close friend.

When his rowdy friends hear that he and Yu Qingyao are about to divorce, they all start plotting to visit her and propose marriage.

Pei Xu: What do you think you're doing? Who's trying to steal my wife?

He thinks, Fine. Since Yu Qingyao likes him so much, he might as well make her happy.

Meanwhile, Yu Qingyao receives the money from Prince Duanping and her father, then slaps a divorce agreement down in front of Pei Xu.

Yu Qingyao: We're even. Goodbye!

Pei Xu: ???

Is it too late to offer her even more money to stay?

Later, he gives up everything, asking only for her to turn back to him.

Yu Qingyao returns his words in kind: Young man, remember your place. Don't covet what isn't yours.

#The adored little schemer vs. the dashing young nobleman#

#After My Contract Marriage to the Young Marquis, He Begs Me to Make the Act Real#

#My wife loves money far more than she loves me. What do I do? Help, urgently!#

[The blurb for The Substitute Princess Turns Dark is below. Revenge against the treacherous couple, the scumbag's downfall, and the heroine finding someone new.]

Xiao Yuke was a princess of Chu, born into a life of privilege. But her birth mother died young, and her father was foolish and inept. After Chu lost a war, he listened to his new empress's provocations and sent Xiao Yuke to marry into the enemy state of Yan.

On their wedding day, Rong Xi, Prince Qi of Yan, drew her tenderly into his arms and solemnly vowed, "Since you call me your husband, A Yu, I will protect you for the rest of your life."

He treated her like a precious treasure, and little by little, she gave him her heart. She used her wisdom to help him fight for the position of heir, risked her life for him again and again, and even willingly helped him bring about the downfall of her homeland, Great Chu.

She had nothing else left to care about in this world. He was her only light.

On the day Rong Xi became crown prince, he brought a young woman back from outside the palace. Only then did Xiao Yuke learn that she had been a substitute for Rong Xi's beloved all along. Now that he held great power, he could finally live openly with the woman he loved, and Xiao Yuke was of no use to him anymore.

The young woman became crown princess and was inseparable from Rong Xi, their love on full display for all to envy.

Xiao Yuke, however, was imprisoned in a palace chamber with no sunlight, where she endured humiliation and torment.

She managed to escape the palace, but with pursuers closing in and nowhere left to run, she resolutely leaped from the city wall.

Rong Xi rushed to her in a panic, only to be held back by his attendants.

She saw the pain and regret he could not hide.

When she opened her eyes again, Xiao Yuke was back on the eve of her wedding. Thinking of her fiance, whom she had "never met," she gave a cold laugh.

When she discovers that Rong Xi has kept his memories of his previous life and is determined to make it up to her...

Good.

This time, she will make him repay every last thing he owes her.

Later, Rong Xi kneels before her, begging her to look at him just once more. She walks straight past him without so much as a glance, heading toward someone else.

Theme: You must love yourself first to love others better