The Emperor's Beloved Noble Lady

[Synopsis] Yu Zhao was born with skin as flawless as ice and bones as delicate as jade, with the beauty and bearing of an immortal. Born into a distinguished family and raised in the Prince of Jiangdu’s residence, she was doted on from childhood and renowned throughout Jiangdu. Unless something unexpected happened, she would marry the Duke of Wei, to whom she was promised as a child, and enjoy a life of mutual devotion and wealth. Then she dreamed that her husband, the Duke of Wei, was secretly involved with her second younger sister, who had returned home after divorcing her husband, and that the two had conceived a child. Worse still, her husband sent her into the emperor’s harem! She died in despair within a few years. Yu Zhao woke from the dream in a panic. To save her life, she dared not get entangled with the man from it. She soon fell for someone, a detached Daoist priest who had nothing whatsoever to do with the man in her dream. The priest was breathtakingly handsome, an aloof beauty untouched by worldly concerns. Their passion burned hot, and they were utterly devoted to each other. But this tender romance was all an illusion. Then... Yu Zhao dreamed again. The lecherous emperor who abducted another man’s wife looked exactly like her Daoist priest. So shocked she nearly died on the spot, she hurriedly wiped away her tears and fled in the dead of night. Zhao Xuan believed Yu Zhao’s words and waited eagerly at the temple for days, only to receive a cruel letter from her. For the first time in his life, the restrained and desireless Daoist priest was consumed by fury. He tore the letter to shreds and stormed out. That very night, the Imperial Guards surrounded the capital inside and out. Yu Zhao was caught red-handed at the city gate. A pair of shoes embroidered with five-clawed golden dragons stepped into view. Yu Zhao’s face turned ashen, and she was close to tears. Zhao Xuan lifted her pale face and smiled gently. “Bao’er, what were you planning to do, dressed like this and sneaking out of the city?” Yu Zhao: “...Wuwu... sob...” She thought he was just a poor Daoist priest. Who knew he was the emperor? [Past and present lives; the second male lead gets his comeuppance] Here’s a preview of my upcoming story. If you’re interested, please add it to your favorites "My Husband’s Lies" A Zhen, a frail commoner who was often ill, married the powerful Prince of Yan and became his consort. Four years into their marriage, A Zhen still couldn’t understand what had made His Highness the Prince choose her. Her husband was gentle and courteous, and his concubines were merely there in name. The two of them seemed like the perfect couple, envied by all. Yet the noblewomen in the palace always looked at her strangely. Then, by chance, A Zhen saw the face of a woman in one of her husband’s treasured paintings, and the woman looked eight parts like her. In his youth, Prince Yan, Zhao Xun, had a love affair that the whole court loved to gossip about. He had once cherished a woman so deeply that he repeatedly gave up titles and riches for her, willing to live with her as a poor couple. Of course, in the end, their love came to nothing. Perhaps she had abandoned him, or perhaps he had grown tired of hardship and come to his senses. In any case, after many twists and turns, he ended up marrying A Zhen. Fortunately, A Zhen soon came to terms with it. Having once known poverty, she was perfectly content with her current life, where food and clothes were brought to her and her husband stayed faithful. [The Male Lead’s Perspective] Zhao Xun used every underhanded trick he could think of to win his wife. At last, he got to spend four years sharing her bed. But no secret can stay hidden forever. His wife seemed to have remembered. She remembered the past: her life with another man. She actually said she hated him. She hated him, the liar who never stopped telling lies. She hated that she had let a wolf into her home by saving him back then. But, A Zhen, how many days were you even married to him? That man is long dead. You and I are the ones who have shared a bed for five years. [Content Warning] Over-the-top melodrama and possessive coercion. The male lead is a virgin; the heroine has a former husband (her marriage to him ended before she got together with the male lead). Theme: May life be bright and all things lovely, and may no one ever be without love