After My Archnemesis Returned from a Matriarchal Kingdom

[First original work, a little rough around the edges, with an unusual feel. Please read with care...]

Qingyuan Commandery Princess has never gotten along with the heir of the Marquis's estate. They bicker every time they meet, and everyone in Jinling knows it.

One day, at a literary gathering at the Shangshe Academy, the two accidentally fall off a cliff. When the commandery princess opens her eyes again, her sworn enemy has undergone a complete change in temperament.

The haughty heir clutches the brocade quilt, bites his lip, and looks up at the commandery princess with a steady gaze. "We were alone together in the rain for half a day. Ruan Yuzhen's chastity is now in your hands, Your Highness... How will you take responsibility for me?"

Yin Xiao: "...Are you putting on an act?"

She thinks Ruan Yu must have hit his head and makes a note to tease him about it once he recovers. But instead, he only keeps taking things further.

She does her homework at the Imperial Academy, and Ruan Yu grinds ink beside her. Her outer robe is torn, and Ruan Yu mends it by lamplight. She has an exam, and Ruan Yu prays to Buddha. She falls ill, and Ruan Yu tends to her medicine.

Yin Xiao: "Ruan Weizhi, have you gone mad?!"

Ruan Yu lowers his eyes. "Yes. A day apart, and I miss you like mad."

-

Later, this troublesome man finally gets his wish and enters the Ning Prince's manor through the front gate, becoming her consort.

One day, while drunk, Yin Xiao grabs him and topples to the ground. He reaches out to steady her. "Careful. ...Your Highness is just as careless as you were when we were children."

Yin Xiao: "..." When we were children?

Ruan Yu: "..." I let it slip.

So he really was putting on an act?!

-

A refined, lovesick gentleman x a cool on the outside, strong-willed on the inside (?) commandery princess whose career comes first.

A wolf in sheep's clothing x a cool, straightforward girl

[Reading Guide / Content Warnings]

1. The setting is fictional, so there's no need to scrutinize the details.

2. In the early and middle parts, the male lead is a soul from a parallel world who transmigrates. Later, he gets better after taking traditional medicine.

3. The male lead immediately throws himself at her after transmigrating because he has long been secretly in love with the female lead.

4. There may be a little court intrigue...

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Please check out my upcoming story, What Should I Do If the Danmei Male Lead Steals My Luck? A local woman fights a man who transmigrates into a book. It features a slight everyone-loves-him element and a full-cast revenge arc. Please add it to your favorites~

People of the time all said that General Mingxiang fawned on her superiors and bullied her inferiors, forming cliques and persecuting those outside her faction. Even with the emperor's favor, she was doomed to die young.

In truth, General Mingxiang had never cared much about dying a violent death or receiving a proper burial.

In her youth, General Mingxiang had once been Princess Mingxiang.

Back then, she had lived in wealth and splendor, growing up like a jewel wrapped in brocade amid a glorious realm. Then enemy forces stormed the capital, and the realm crumbled. Her mother could only hide her behind a screen. She watched as blood sprayed from her mother's neck, while her Crown Prince brother knelt and crawled between the enemy soldiers' legs. He kowtowed eighty-one times, begging them to spare her life.

Later, her brother, unable to bear the humiliation, killed himself in the cold palace. Mingxiang, her eyes gouged out, crawled from the mountain of corpses at the capital's gates. At last, she found a chance to escape the imperial city with her personal eunuch.

Deep in the forest, she watched a tiger maul her eunuch's leg. The eunuch clasped her hand and told her not to cry, but to go south. "Nanzhao is where your elder sister, who was sent there to marry, lives. Your Highness, go to her. Survive."

Mingxiang went.

But too many people in Nanzhao hated her. They resented her glittering, beautiful past and despised her for having only one eye. Countless times, Mingxiang was thrown into the mire, only to struggle back to her feet.

Later, Mingxiang returned to the battlefield and was set up by others. She fought for three days with her personal troops, then gave her life for her country. In the end, the prophecy came true: she died a terrible death.

This time, the heavens and spirits finally showed her mercy, sending her back to the palace of her motherland in her youth.

Time turned back, and she dreamed of days gone by. Mingxiang hesitantly stepped into the hall and saw her mother embracing a boy. Her brother bent down to call him "little brother," while her eunuch stood nearby, smiling at their family bliss.

She had swallowed the bitter fruit of her glorious youth, endured the flames that burned her body and the agony that tore at her heart, and held on until she returned to the past, only to have an outsider steal her life.

Even those small, tender hands Mingxiang had at six years old could no longer kill.

The Heavenly Dao said, "This boy comes from a thousand years in the future. He will take your place, win the sincere love of your enemy nation's ruler, and save your motherland from destruction. He will take your place in Nanzhao and become the unattainable beloved in the emperor's heart. He will be loved by everyone and turn your tragic life around."

Mingxiang felt her eyes grow wet. She raised a hand to wipe them, only to find tears of blood streaming down her face.

Princess Mingxiang had spent her life burning through her strength and finally been lucky enough to return to the past and change her fate, only to discover that an outsider had stolen everything from her.

But she had committed countless sins and had never been weak. Even if the Heavenly Dao stood by and did nothing, she would take matters into her own hands, shatter their faltering memories, and return this absurd world to the way it was.

Mingxiang grew up wild amid mountains of corpses and rivers of blood. She had never relied on anyone's pity or affection.

And a cunning thief, pampered by everyone, would never be allowed to leave so easily.

Theme: Circumstances shape people.