Did Your Highness Succeed in the Rebellion Today?

[I recommend my friend Manchuan's story, The Winds Are Still Strong in the Jianghu. It's a fantastic ensemble martial arts novel. If you're interested, go check it out!] [My upcoming story, On the Self-Cultivation of a Substitute, is open for follows. Please add it to your library!] Chu Heng remembered the end of winter in the third year of Yongchuan. Heavy rain, a funeral. He had volunteered to protect the Crown Prince, only to be rejected. His own father kicked him to the ground on the palace road. The assembled officials, each with their own agenda, watched him suffer the humiliation. Amid the heavy mourning robes, only one person knelt before him and begged for mercy on his behalf. The palace road was narrow, and through the dense mist, all he could see was the hem of her tattered skirt, soaked with muddy water, as she knelt before him. Later, he realized her eyes were like the sunset on the Eight Tribute Snow Mountains, a brightness that had nothing to do with his life. * Yu Yunsheng transmigrated into the story as the proper wife of its foolish villain. Her job was to keep the troublemaking villain alive to the end without changing the original outcome, in which the male and female leads win. But she had only read the beginning of the story, and immediately felt the pressure mounting. She racked her brain to guess the villain's intentions, investigated his plans, and worked hard to build a friendly image for her villain husband in the eyes of the male and female leads. Luckily, her husband couldn't be bothered to control her, and usually let her do as she pleased. Yu Yunsheng was perfectly happy with that. Once she finished her task, she would hurry straight home. Until she was held in front of the army sent to suppress the rebellion and used to force her husband to surrender. She watched him lay down his arms without hesitation. Only then did she realize that she probably wouldn't be able to finish her mission. * Since Chu Heng was old enough to understand, he had never known a parent's love. He spent his whole life striving with all his might to claim the supreme throne, hoping to earn even a glance of attention from his parents. At first, he wasn't particularly interested in romance. The daughter of the Yingchuan Yu family, whom his father had arranged for him to marry, was simply the rejected candidate for crown princess, foisted onto him instead. It wasn't until he noticed that Yu Yunsheng kept foiling his carefully laid plans for one reason or another that he slowly realized something was wrong. "Your Highness, your wife threw the painting you prepared to frame the Crown Prince into the water." "Your Highness, your wife rode off on the horse you planned to use to trample the Crown Prince to death." "Your Highness, your wife drank the poison you prepared for the Crown Prince herself." The woman he had paid little attention to had somehow entered his heart before he knew it. She did everything she could to slowly wash the filth from his hands and guide the light back to him. In the long, dark stretch of his life, she was the greatest blessing Heaven had given him. A blessing worth more than a thousand pieces of gold. "Even if the whole world turns away, I will do everything I can, all for Your Highness's safety and happiness." "Safety and happiness are no great fortune. Meeting you is the greatest favor Heaven has ever shown me." Warnings: 1. Neither lead is perfect. They both have flaws. 2. Happy ending, so you can read without worry. 3. Many details are made up, so please don't nitpick them for historical accuracy. Upcoming story: On the Self-Cultivation of a Substitute. Please add it to your library! Xiang Ling first met Ruan Zhao in the bitter winter of the first year of Jingye. He led a million cavalrymen to breach the royal city, washing away the shame of his years spent as a hostage. On his tall horse, the blood-drenched youth looked grim, like a god of death made flesh. Ruan Zhao stood barefoot among the palace attendants, kneeling as they awaited their fate. As Xiang Ling's eyes swept over them, they came to rest on her face. Then he pointed at her. "You, come here." From that day on, she became the cinnabar mole in his heart, impossible to erase. * Ruan Zhao transmigrated into the story as a throwaway NPC, the emperor's illegitimate daughter who had grown up in the mountains. Her useless father lost his kingdom and handed her over to the enemy prince. Ruan Yuanyuan knew how to play along. Once she learned she was a substitute for Ruan Xi, the heroine of the original story, she practiced day and night, doing her best to match the real thing in every frown and smile so she could carry out her escape plan. A person shouldn't bend over three dou of rice, but one dou was enough for her. But before her plan was even a third complete, the real Ruan Xi returned. She was the heroine of the original story, the one who received all the love in the world. Ruan Yuanyuan was no more than an awkward replacement. Ruan Yuanyuan quickly packed her things and decided to put her escape plan into action early. From then on, the world would be vast, and she could roam wherever she pleased. Years later, Ruan Yuanyuan met Xiang Ling again outside the capital. The youth who had once been untouched by worldly concerns and stood high above others pleaded desperately. "Zhaozhao, I've always loved you. Please, don't leave me." Ruan Yuanyuan's inner thoughts: Pah, what a two-timing scumbag. * A resilient heroine who knows when to bend and when to stand firm. She can eat and sleep just fine, but she absolutely will not fall for the male lead. Warnings: 1. The heroine does not end up with the male lead. Getting the life she wants is her happy ending. 2. The original heroine isn't vilified. The protagonist saves her, too, helping her escape a toxic relationship. Theme: You have to love life.