A Fu

A Fu was an orphan. While gathering herbs in the mountains, she came across the Crown Prince, Zhao Pan, barely clinging to life. To save him, she sacrificed half her face.

To repay her, Zhao Pan brought A Fu to the capital and made her his mistress.

After that, A Fu lived in a tall pavilion with no sunlight, kept like a bird in a gilded cage.

As they spent their days together, she thought Zhao Pan cared for her. Only later did she learn that he saw her as a stand-in for his beloved.

When his beloved returned, a white silk cord was sent straight to A Fu.

The messenger said the Crown Princess could not tolerate her.

Reborn, A Fu would never again fall for a faithless man's tricks.

She continued to flatter Zhao Pan with honeyed words, while secretly saving money and bribing the matrons and guards on duty, ready to run the moment she got the chance.

On a dark and windy night, she took her bundle and slipped away to the wooden house she'd bought outside the city.

To her surprise, a man was watching her with an air of languid indifference, his eyes colder than snow. "You're an incense stick late, A Fu. Next time you drug me, use a stronger dose."

* [Cold, domineering, and brooding x Honest, foolish beauty]

* A groveling pursuit after the heroine, coercive romance

Theme: Don't trust others too easily