When Ling Zhao was eight, she was sent to the Prince Regent's estate with nothing but a bundle.
The tall, dignified man crouched down and brushed the crumbs from the pastries she'd snuck from her face with his elegant fingers. He said earnestly, "From now on, this is your home."
He was Xie Changheng, the most powerful man in the Great Liang Empire.
She spent years at the estate. Remembering her parents' dying wish, Xie Changheng raised and protected her, taught her to read and write, and trained her to ride and shoot. He was extremely strict with her, yet in private he would patiently soothe her.
He took on the responsibilities of her father and elder brother. They ought to have been as close as siblings, looking after one another.
But Ling Zhao alone knew that she harbored a possessive, covetous longing that was beginning to stir.
She thought she could lock it away and keep it a secret forever.
But when she was sixteen, she got drunk and stumbled into Xie Changheng's room, confessing the girlish feelings she'd kept inside.
His deep, unfathomable eyes filled with shock and surging anger.
He helped her put her clothes back on, one piece at a time, then coldly told her, "Get out."
The next day, he went off to war. For three years, there was no word from him. Not long after he returned, he brought a gentle, refined woman to the estate and said, "She will be your sister-in-law from now on."
The tender look Xie Changheng gave his sister-in-law was one he had never given Ling Zhao.
.
Ling Zhao moved out of the Prince Regent's estate.
She wanted nothing more to do with Xie Changheng. She had to make plans for her own future.
After a night banquet in Shengjing, rumors about her scandalous affair spread like wildfire. That night, Xie Changheng came to her residence.
Rage like a storm about to break churned in his dark, abyssal eyes.
"I can't believe I raised you to be so wanton." He held himself back, restraining his anger as he closed in on Ling Zhao step by step. His voice was devoid of emotion. "You dared climb into my bed at sixteen. I thought you'd changed, but I never imagined you'd dare seduce someone else."
He gripped her chin hard. With his other hand, he unclasped the belt at his waist and fixed his gaze on her red, glistening lips. "Do you have to make me angry?"
.
He should have crushed this filthy heart of his.
But when did it become so filthy?
He could no longer remember.
He only remembered his heart pounding, again and again, thumping loudly.
His palms grew damp with sweat, and a chill crept down his back.
A bewitching, clever beauty x a stern, old-fashioned Prince Regent
Theme: Even the little things in life can be so delightful~
