Biting into Red Rouge

[Second Male Lead Takes the Crown / Nurturing / Coercion] Yuci was the most cherished princess of the Jiang Kingdom. But after falling ill as a child and failing to recover, she had no choice but to be sent to the court's greatest worry, the Gusu Prince Jin Zhao's residence, to recuperate. Qin Jin, the legitimate eldest son of Prince Jin Zhao, was peerlessly handsome. Yet he was aloof by nature, and his lowered phoenix eyes always held a world-weary air that struck fear into those who met them. When she first arrived at the residence, five-year-old Yuci gazed at him timidly. Qin Jin's lips curved in a smile that might or might not have been genuine. He pinched the little princess's pale cheek with two fingers, his voice low and clear. "You poor little thing." How had she ended up in his hands? No one could have imagined that over the next ten years, Yuci would grow closer to this man, whom no one dared provoke, than anyone else. That is, until Yuci came of age and Lu Yan, the Chancellor's son, arrived by imperial command with a marriage contract to take her back to the palace. Qin Jin idly toyed with his firearm and crippled one of Lu Yan's legs. Tsk. What kind of trash did he think he was, to deserve marrying the girl Qin Jin had raised? * At first, all Yuci could think about was recovering soon and returning to the palace. After coming of age, she met Lu Yan, to whom she was still betrothed, and her pure young heart began to stir with love. But later she learned that Lu Yan was Brother A Jin's sworn enemy. That night, the man entered her bedchamber, his madness hidden deep in his phoenix eyes. "Have you fallen for him?" Only then did Yuci realize... It seemed she wasn't going anywhere. * Much later. Yuci stood before the full-length mirror in her bedchamber, frowning in perplexity. "Brother A Jin, have I... gotten fat lately?" Qin Jin's gaze held a deep, amused smile. He bit her increasingly plump cheek. "Not enough yet." Yuci didn't know that, tucked inside the man's sleeve at the time, was a prescription for pregnancy-stabilizing medicine that the doctor had given him after examining her. #When golden wind and jade dew meet, what else in this world could matter? # #After raising her until she was all grown up, she was his. # Theme: When truth seems false, and falsehood seems true