The Emperor's Will

On the day Guan Jingshu got married, Crown Prince Mu Xiuze fell gravely ill. It was the dead of winter. Everyone assumed the prince had caught a chill because the palace servants had failed to care for him properly. Only Mu Xiuze knew that on those bitterly cold, windy nights, he had repeatedly poured icy water over himself. He had promised Guan Jingshu that if she married, he would be there. As fever blurred his consciousness, only one thought remained. At least this way, he wouldn't have to watch her marry someone else... * In the first year of Chengping, the new emperor bestowed the title of Earl of Jingyuan on Ning Chengye, heir to the Marquis of Duyang, and made his wife, Lady Guan, a third-rank county lady. Everyone said Ning Chengye had earned the emperor's favor, but no one knew that in the dead of night, as the young emperor drafted the decree, he told himself: This is his Ashu. He wants her to live a smooth, peaceful, and happy life. For her sake, he was willing to bury all his love deep in his heart, never letting her discover the slightest trace of it. But he didn't know that his Ashu was unhappy. * When news of Ning Chengye's death arrived, the entire marquis's household was overcome with grief. As a newly widowed woman, Guan Jingshu took charge of every matter in the household. Her husband had only just died, yet she held back her grief and managed everything so properly and by the book that nobody could find fault with her. Guan Jingshu had always believed that, although she and Ning Chengye had not been a perfectly devoted couple during their five years of marriage, they had at least treated each other with respect. She had even prepared herself to spend the rest of her life in widowhood. But on the anniversary of her husband's death the following year, Guan Jingshu met a woman with a child. The child looked about four, and his features were strikingly similar to those of the late Ning Chengye. Only then did Guan Jingshu understand that everything she had given over the past few years had been nothing more than a ridiculous exercise in fooling herself. * The day Guan Jingshu left the Marquis of Duyang's estate, rain poured down in torrents. She walked alone along the empty main street, letting the rain soak through her clothes. A carriage slowly approached through the rain and finally stopped beside her. The curtain lifted. The young emperor, holding an umbrella, stepped down slowly. "Ashu." He reached out, his pale fingers long and distinct. "Get in." Come with me. Unable to tell whether the wetness in her eyes was tears or rain, Guan Jingshu's vision blurred. At last, she lifted her hand and let her fingertips fall into his palm. Everyone said the emperor's heart was impossible to fathom. But for Mu Xiuze, from beginning to end, the only person in his heart had been the woman before him. Reader's Guide: Devoted emperor x widowed beauty Female lead is sexually experienced; male lead is a virgin. The female lead marries again. The male lead is incredibly devoted. You won't regret investing in him! - My next book will be a fantasy story about a yandere demon lord x a cool, stunning beauty. Please add it to your favorites! "Coveting the Bright Moon" Ye Luanying was a nobody in Tianxin Pavilion. Her talent was mediocre, and she was quiet and withdrawn. From the pavilion master down to the outer-sect disciples, no one paid her any attention. Only her junior disciple, Gong Ze, seemed different. He followed her around all day, never tiring of it even when she gave him no response. During a sect training excursion, a group of disciples wandered into Tianguang Ruins and broke a seal that had held for a hundred years. Legend had it that the demon who had thrown Shenhuang into turmoil a century ago had been imprisoned beneath the Luofu Sea in Tianguang Ruins. The seal broke, and the demon emerged. The Shenhuang Continent would be plunged into devastation. . The day the demon army arrived at Tianxin Pavilion, everyone in the sect panicked and fled in all directions. Only Ye Luanying remained unexpectedly calm. While the pavilion master and elders fought off the invaders, she held a longsword, its tip aimed at Gong Ze, who had followed her all this time. Then, amid everyone's shocked cries, she swung her sword, and blood spread across Gong Ze's chest. Her fellow disciples accused her of going mad, but Ye Luanying's expression remained calm. "Ye Yaoze, I know it's you." Everyone's expression changed. Ye Yaoze: the name the demon had taken in the human world a hundred years ago. Just as everyone thought Ye Luanying was talking nonsense, the usually courteous and considerate junior disciple Gong Ze, so beloved by everyone, chuckled softly, his eyes alight with pleasure. "A hundred years apart, and you're still as clever as ever." His voice had lost its usual youthful energy, turning instead low and sinister. That day, the demon spared Tianxin Pavilion, leaving only these words behind: "Senior Sister, I'll see you at Luofu Sea in three days." . A hundred years ago, the head of the Qiongyu Sect had fed himself to the enemy, sealing the demon beneath the Luofu Sea. A hundred years later, the Qiongyu Sect was gone from Shenhuang, but Ye Luanying remained. Ye Yaoze gave her three days. In three days, Ye Luanying would enter the Luofu Sea, and the demon army would withdraw to Tianguang Ruins. Everyone thought Ye Yaoze must hate Ye Luanying for imprisoning him beneath the Luofu Sea a hundred years ago. He had forced her to come to Tianguang Ruins for no reason but to humiliate and torment her. Only Ye Yaoze knew that beneath the Luofu Sea, when he held her in his arms, he was so excited that his hands trembled. "Senior Sister, I told you long ago that you would be mine in the end..." What did a hundred years in captivity matter, if that was what it took? Reader's Guide: Mad, obsessive demon x cool, stunning beauty I personally think it's a sweet romance. This time, I absolutely won't write anything angsty (I'll try). Theme: People must live for themselves.