I Don’t Want to Be the Male Empress Dowager [Book Transmigration]

Qu Yueling transmigrated into a book after getting caught in a fire.

He became... the male empress dowager from a novel he'd only read one page of before he died?

Apart from knowing that the male lead was the emperor, the female lead was a palace maid in the Cold Palace who would become empress, and he himself would be made empress dowager after the Third Prince ascended the throne, he knew absolutely nothing.

Qu Yueling thought that since the Third Prince would become emperor, he was sure to be the male lead. There was no harm in ingratiating himself with him.

But Qu Yueling hadn't expected the palace to be full of hidden dangers:

The old emperor was gay, the eldest princess had transmigrated from a world where women ruled, the Second Prince wasn't the old emperor's son, the Third Prince was reborn, and there was also a hostage prince from an enemy kingdom who would later return as a tyrant seeking revenge. As for the female lead, she appeared to be a palace maid in the Cold Palace, but was actually the real daughter in a story about a marquis's family raising the wrong child. She'd already been brought back to her family early in this life!

Most importantly... after he had worked so hard to help the Third Prince ascend the throne, the prince had barely been emperor for any time at all when Rong Lie, the pitiful hostage he'd thought had “turned over a new leaf,” ascended the throne in his own country and immediately set out to destroy the Third Prince's kingdom!

And just a few days ago, Qu Yueling had used his foot to stomp on Rong Lie's face when he tried to climb into his bed.

Qu Yueling: ...Did I get the male lead wrong?

To save his own life, Qu Yueling faked his death and “escaped” to the Western Regions. But he never expected his good-for-nothing imperial brother, knowing that Rong Lie wanted him, to package him up as a tribute beauty and send him to Rong Lie's harem.

Qu Yueling: This damn novel has ruined my life!

Later, Rong Lie held him and spoke in a tender, loving voice, though his expression was sinister. “A-Ling, if you want to be empress dowager, marrying me amounts to the same thing. When I die, you'll be the empress dowager.”

Qu Yueling: I don't want to be empress dowager that badly.

Rong Lie: I knew you couldn't bear the thought of being widowed.

Qu Yueling: ?

Sickly, sharp-tongued beauty with a heart condition as the bottom × scheming, calculating hostage prince who acts sweet and innocent in front of him as the top

Reading guide:

1. One-on-one, both virgins. The top has a scar on his face (see character art), is hopelessly devoted, and can't go on living if his wife dies. He's a sinister, manipulative green tea type and a master of changing faces: one moment he's insecure and crying in front of his beloved, the next he's got his beloved in tears.

2. After the bottom fakes his death, the top goes a little crazy. There will be captivity and ankle-chain play. From the top's point of view, he's keeping him prisoner; from the bottom's point of view, they're just playing at being a couple.

3. This story cranks every kind of melodrama up to the absolute limit. The bottom thinks he's mistaken about who the male lead is, but in fact he transmigrated into a no-romance novel with no female lead at all.

4. The bottom and the old emperor have no romantic entanglement, but they do sleep together in the literal sense. Think of two good buddies lying down for a nap, not even sharing a blanket. The old emperor is gay and so afraid the bottom will make a move on him that he can't sleep, falls out of bed in the middle of the night, and the top just happens to be hiding under the bed (). I think this scene will be dryly funny when I write it, but if this is a dealbreaker for you, please don't read the book.

5. The antagonists include both men and women, good-for-nothing men and women alike, and the emperor who eventually ascends the throne may be male or female.

6. A transmigration System appears, and the System is a dog. A real dog.

7. The male empress dowager is a constant; the emperors come and go (not really).

Theme: Only by offering each other our true hearts and being honest with one another can we earn true love.