Beneath the Splendid Robes

[The novel is complete. Thanks to readers who support the official release. My new historical romance, White-Eyed Wolf, is now underway.] Blurb: Yunying is a maid in a marquis's household, born alluring and graceful, with a striking, voluptuous beauty. The young marquis, who is unmarried, takes an interest in her. After they sleep together while drunk, she becomes pregnant, and his future principal wife will not tolerate her. They say the principal wife about to join the household comes from a distinguished family and will brook no impropriety. To win her favor, the young marquis even plans to kill Yunying and spare the child. With nowhere else to turn, Yunying begs the marquis's wife for help. But on that very day, an important guest is visiting incognito, and the marquis and his wife are seated in the main hall entertaining them. When Yunying barges in, the marquise is horrified, afraid of offending the guest, and orders someone to throw her out. But the guest stops them. The noble visitor holds a bone fan and leans down slightly from above, lifting her chin to examine her full, radiant face. The visitor asks, “Have you already had a child?” Yunying nods, blushing, and dares not lie. “My baby just turned a hundred days old.” The visitor asks again, “Did you nurse the child yourself?” Yunying nods once more. The visitor smiles, gazing at her full, luminous figure, and says softly, “If you want to live, come into the palace with me.” Note: The heroine begins her career in the palace as a wet nurse. This is not a palace-intrigue novel, and there is no single fixed male lead. There are different male leads in different stages, about four or five in total. Blurb for White-Eyed Wolf: Jialuo is the daughter of the Turkic Khagan and a princess sent by Da Ye to marry into his family. When she was eight, her father died, and Da Ye went to war with the Turks. Her mother abandoned Jialuo and fled the royal city alone to pass information to Da Ye, but died along the way. The young Prince of Jin, Li Xuanji, led Da Ye's army onto the grasslands, completely subdued the Turkic tribes, and brought the orphan Jialuo back to Yedu. From then on, Jialuo was given the title of princess, raised in the palace, and placed under the care of the empress. Everyone said Jialuo was lucky. Though not a drop of royal blood flowed in her veins, and her mother, the princess sent to marry into the Turkic family, was herself merely the descendant of a disgraced official, Jialuo had become one of Da Ye's pampered princesses despite being an orphan. Such immense imperial favor was a blessing others could not earn in several lifetimes. But Jialuo knew that one day, she would have to repay every kindness she had received. Da Ye had vast territories and enemies lurking along its borders. Sooner or later, another princess would have to be sent off in a political marriage. Who would be more suitable than her, an adopted princess of foreign descent? This was her fate. She ought to accept it gladly, grateful and obedient as she waited for the day she would head north in her wedding robes. But Jialuo was an ungrateful wolf who could never be tamed. She refused to acknowledge any kindness or duty! She knew only that she had no desire to follow in her mother's footsteps. To escape the fate of a political marriage, she was willing to give up anything, including herself! She would love whoever could give her freedom. And whoever tried to imprison her, she would... kill! Note: This is the story of an adopted daughter of the royal family. It is not a story about an all-powerful heroine. There are four important male characters, and every man who gets together with the heroine is a virgin. Theme: The struggle of life never ends.