After the Capital Fell, the Coachman I Had Humiliated...

When the city fell, Sima Yisu disguised herself as a young palace eunuch, hoping to stay alive by hiding among a group of powdered male courtesans.

Flames soared into the sky. Someone gripped her disguised little face hard and lifted it. The man bent down and bared his teeth in a grin, his eyes alight with the malicious anticipation that made her heart and soul shatter. "Has the princess not sacrificed herself for her country yet? Are you waiting for a humble servant to help you? I would gladly serve you with all my strength."

Fire flickered in her wide, watery eyes. Remembering the humiliations she had once inflicted on him, she was so terrified that she collapsed to the ground, her legs trembling.

Before she could beg for mercy, the male courtesans she had once ordered to torment and humiliate him like dogs rushed forward, tearing at her one by one. They wailed and fought each other to be the first to help him dismember her.

A curved saber swept sideways, cleaving one of the courtesans in two. The man's deep-set eyes were shadowed. His coarse knuckles, gliding along her cheek, were damp and warm. He smiled, still as handsome as a spring morning, and brought a cup of poisoned wine to her lips. "Princess, I have a soft spot for old times. I've mixed in some anesthetic, so it shouldn't hurt too much. Farewell."

.

When she opened her eyes, the Gobi stretched endlessly before her. Sima Yisu had gone from the most honored and beloved eleventh princess of the Rui Dynasty to a laborer in the Liangzhou Protectorate.

She had to wash clothes and sweep floors, and the matrons made her stand at attention. She could barely endure the hardship, but gritted her teeth and kept going, never once willing to bow her head to him.

Until a spy from the Rui Dynasty brought word that the Seventh Prince was going to execute her mother. She stormed into the main courtyard like a madwoman and crashed into the man just out of his bath. "Helian Yi, save my mother. I'll tell you everything you want to find out, and where the Imperial Seal is."

In the hazy dreamlike steam, water droplets disappeared along his sculpted waist. As the world spun around her, he pressed her onto the desk. His breath was hot against her ear, his words taunting. He chuckled as his fingers explored her slender, frostbitten fingers. "So pampered, yet tougher than I expected. The Rui capital is in chaos. Saving the deposed empress won't be easy."

.

After that, the Liangzhou governor, who had never shown interest in women, changed his ways. Beneath the red silk curtains, she leaned against his shoulder, eyes reddened. "Were you born a beast, Helian Yi? Go easy on me."

Her angry, sulky expression only earned her even rougher treatment.

Unable to bear it, she caressed the old wound on his chest, the one he had received when he was her slave.

A few pearly tears escaped her apricot eyes as she sweetly asked, full of regret, "Dear brother, did it hurt badly back then?" The man beneath the curtains was a sucker for this. Even with his handsome face stiff, he had to comfort her first.

.

She had never truly regretted anything or surrendered to him. She stole his seal and joined forces with the Rui Dynasty to scheme against him.

On the road through Zhongnan Mountain, the Rui Dynasty's ambush was deadly. She laughed at herself for being foolish and gullible. Only when she watched Helian Yi fight to protect her, fall from the cliff, and die covered in blood did she finally come to her senses.

P.S. 1. A spoiled, incompetent little fox x a ruthless hero born a slave. The male lead is a dark-to-white hero of a chaotic age, a commoner with mixed Hu ancestry.

2. Angsty but sweet, happy ending

Theme: No matter what adversity you face, never give up. Keep moving forward. Being alive is what matters most.