To Hell with Being Empress, I Quit!

Empress Qin Yan is the mother of the nation, virtuous and gracious. From an unremarkable princess consort to crown princess and then empress, everyone praises her perfection.

Until one day, Empress Qin Yan decides she's done with the job.

Emperor Shen Kuang is diligent and governs the realm benevolently. He's simply cold by nature, and his harem is just as cold, with only one woman in it: the empress.

Until one day, his empress hands him a letter of divorce.

Qin Yan: Hold a selection for the harem.

Shen Kuang: ?

Qin Yan: I'll find someone to take over for me.

Shen Kuang: If you're unhappy with me, just say so.

Qin Yan: Your mother is mean and wants to depose me every day, your siblings are overbearing and unreasonable, and a whole bunch of ministers are watching me like hawks. If I use one hairpin wrong, they impeach me three or five times. And you can't get two words out of your mouth all day! Did I marry a block of wood or a stone?! Either grant me a length of white silk so I can hang myself, or let me shave my head and become a nun!

The tongue-tied emperor listened in silence, then turned and left the empress's chambers.

The next day, Qin Yan received a letter in the emperor's own hand.

The letter listed all the qualities the emperor believed he had, in an attempt to persuade his empress to stay. Qin Yan's mouth twitched. The first few pages were almost all nonsense, and even seemed to have been written by the Censorate.

Only the last line seemed to have been added much later: “I am excellent in bed, better than wood or stone.”

Qin Yan: ?

*The entire story is set in a fictional world.

*The cover uses a non-exclusive CG license that has been purchased. Copyright information is in the lower right.

◆Coming soon: Abundance of Wealth. An ultra-sweet childhood-friends romance. Please add it to your favorites if you're interested!

Tao Jin is a painter, and all the palace consorts like to have her paint their portraits.

But she's only ever painted women, never men.

One day, the crown prince asks her to paint his portrait. Unsure what to do, she decides to find a man to practice on.

“Take it off!”

“Jin, isn't this a bit much?”

“Take it off when I tell you to! You don't wear this much when you practice martial arts!”

The only person she can find is her childhood friend, Huo Guangxin, heir to the Prince of Guangping.

“Painting should capture you to the very bone. Why are you being shy about taking off your top?”

One day passes, then two, without anything happening. By the third day... Tao Jin starts to feel something is off.

Why are her cheeks getting red?

But Huo Guangxin, whose ears are just as red, takes her brush and says stiffly, “Y-you're only painting my upper body, right?”

◆Check out my friend and epic fantasy specialist @Ren Zhi Shichang: Letters from Fate [Western Fantasy] and Reversed Temperance. They're incredibly epic!

◆And another modern romance sweet-treat writer, @Shui Man Sheng: Money or You? Why Choose? A super-sweet contract romance!

Theme: Moving forward together