Has the Grand Secretary’s Funeral Pyre Been Lit Today?

*Please pick up this second-chance romance, mwah* Chu Fuyao was brought into the palace as a child and showered with affection. As a young girl, she fell for Xie Youli, the aloof and otherworldly chief councilor of the court. When she came of age, a decree from the Empress Dowager granted her wish: she married him. Married life was not what she had imagined. Other couples treated each other with respect; they treated each other like ice. In three years of marriage, Xie Youli had not even shared a bed with her. Only many years later did she learn that the Empress Dowager had used her authority to force the marriage, and that Xie Youli had loathed her all along. Chu Fuyao's heart was torn apart, but she had no intention of dragging things out. She wrote a divorce agreement with her own hand. But before she could give it to Xie Youli, a fire burned her entire courtyard to the ground. Amid the blazing flames, Chu Fuyao felt that she had lived a lively life after all. But if she got another chance, she would stay far away from Xie Youli. * She was reborn in the year the Empress Dowager arranged her marriage. At her coming-of-age banquet, the Empress Dowager pointed toward Xie Youli in the distance and said with a beaming smile, "Today, my darling Fuyao comes of age. How about Grandmother arranging a marriage for you?" The hall fell silent for a moment. Then everyone heard the little princess, who had always followed Xie Youli around, softly shake her head. "No." As if afraid nobody had heard, the little princess repeated herself. "Grandmother, I won't marry him." She did not look at Xie Youli even once. * In the distance, Xie Youli, the usually cool and peerless chief councilor, was dark as ink. 1v1, both reborn, happy ending, alternate world. Blurb finalized on July 6, 2023 Theme: What is meant to be yours will be yours