Desire Burning in the Deep Palace

[Enchanting Beauty x Ice-Cold Man with a Controlling Streak, Stepmother Romance] Blurb Chu Wang was the emperor's ninth son. In his youth, he defied an imperial decree and was stripped of his power and imprisoned. As the emperor's second empress, Qing Rouzhi personally fed him a cup of poison, sending him into exile at the border with his frail body barely holding on. No one expected him to return one day. Everyone said the Ninth Prince was ruthless and iron-fisted, with the bearing of an emperor. Only Qing Rouzhi knew that this man, cool and restrained on the outside, like snow atop a mountain peak, had been bloodthirsty and lustful since his youth. He had always despised her for clinging to his father like a parasitic vine, and he could never forget the grudge he held over that cup of poison. Whenever his gaze fell on her, it was dark and turbulent, filled with emotions too complicated to read. In a mere ten days, the emperor died and the Qing family was imprisoned. The mourning hall. Snow fell in silence. Qing Rouzhi knelt, knowing she would not survive. She raised a dagger glinting with cold light, ready to follow the late emperor into death, but someone snatched the blade from her grasp. The new emperor's towering figure loomed over her. He cupped her cheek in his palm, and icy Buddhist prayer beads rolled across her skin. His low, seductive voice brushed softly past her ear: "I will inherit everything my father left behind." "Including you." She is the moon in the heavens, the phoenix among the clouds. She is the moon in my palm, the phoenix in my cage. #How can I have a troubled heart if you never rewrote my life# Updated every night at nine. Content warnings 1. Usurper and deranged tyrant x Heshi Jade and beautiful empress. Younger man, three-year age gap, melodramatic slow-burn romance, a touch of redemption, one-on-one. The heroine is not a powerhouse. She's just an ordinary person with ordinary intelligence, and a rather gentle personality. The hero is obsessive, possessive, and ambitious, with a psychological disorder. He cannot feel love and has an extreme desire to control and dominate the heroine. His feelings for her are profoundly unhealthy. He's got no morals, only impeccable devotion to his woman. If this sort of hero isn't for you, please don't force yourself to read! Here's a preview of my upcoming novel, After Deceiving the Aloof Aristocrat Female lead is not a virgin, male lead is / Wei-Jin setting / Possessive love / A saintly gentleman turns dark and deranged Mild-mannered, lovesick young widow vs. saintly gentleman and self-serving power broker Blurb So Wang Guanling really did hate her. Xuxu only realized it belatedly. Wang Guanling was the eldest son of the Langya Wang clan, a man of unparalleled refinement. The people parted for him wherever he went, and members of the aristocracy greeted him with the deference due to an elder. She had no family standing or inherited privilege, and made her living by preparing the dead for burial. When she saw a nobleman like him, she had to kneel by the roadside and hide her face with her sleeve, only daring to look up after his carriage had passed. Yet someone like her saved him when he was gravely injured and had lost his memory, then deceived him for an entire year. One night, during a torrential storm, Wang Guanling collapsed outside her home. The young gentleman was as handsome as spring flowers and the moonlit snow, with an extraordinary bearing, but his expenses were staggering. A single garment of his was worth a hundred taels of gold. She had planned to get rid of this hot potato, but then he spoke. His clear, cool voice reminded her of someone she had once known. He said he had lost his memory and had nowhere to go. So she told the most outrageous lie: "We are husband and wife." Whenever they made love, she covered her eyes with a strip of cloth, craving only his voice, clear as freshly fallen snow. And he would always pant beside her ear, whispering again and again that he loved her. After Wang Guanling returned home, rumors spread all around them. The Langya clan's eldest son, once so skilled at scheming and manipulation, now carried an aloofness that seemed to seep from his very bones. She brought him tea, and he took it and set it aside without looking at her hand. She spoke, and he answered with a single "Mm," then said nothing more. When their eyes occasionally met, she saw no tenderness in his gaze, only a cold scrutiny, as if he were sizing up a stranger. "The eldest young master must have tired of that common-born woman," everyone said. At first, she didn't believe them. Not until the night she approached him, only for him to silently push her away. He stood beneath the lamplight, the candlelight illuminating his handsome, aloof face. There was not a trace of his former infatuation in his eyes. He said only, "I, Wang Guanling, would never fall for someone like you." The Wang clan discovered that she had used sorcery to bewitch their lord and alter his memories, and wanted to beat her to death. Xuxu's hands and feet were shackled as she knelt in the hall. All around her, the entire Langya Wang clan seethed with anger. Blades flashed, and the air turned frigid. Wang Guanling sat in the seat of honor, looking down at it all without joy or sorrow, like a god or Buddha. Only when an elder asked him how she should be dealt with did he speak, his voice flat and emotionless: "Since she had no intention of harming anyone, there is no need to torture her. Give her a residence and provide her with fine clothes and food. We must not let outsiders say the Wang clan is cruel." Everyone praised the eldest young master for his generosity and impartiality. But it was precisely this cold, bone-deep indifference that let her see him clearly for the first time. She realized she could no longer feel the possessive desire she once had. Xuxu left a letter of apology and slipped away in silence. War ravaged Zhongzhou, and Xuxu fled with a large group of refugees. On the road, she met a man. He resembled her late husband more than Wang Guanling did. His appearance, voice, and manner were all exactly the same. She didn't dare make another mistake. But this time, he recognized her first and called out through choked sobs, "Xuxu, I've missed you so much." Reunited with her husband, she felt as though they had been apart for lifetimes. Overjoyed, she could only say that Heaven had treated her kindly after all. They decided to return to their old home for a visit. But halfway there, a cloud of dust rose ahead. The Wang clan's banners fluttered in the wind, and a sea of carriages blocked their path. That cold, imposing, untouchable nobleman, elegant in his loose robes and fur-lined cloak, stepped slowly out of his carriage. From then on, Wang Guanling was behind her every night. The cold-hearted saint's long, pale hands slipped beneath her clothes, wantonly teasing her as he refused to let her say no. When he had had his fill, he coaxed her into taking up a brush to paint his portrait: his brows, eyes, nose, and lips, not a single detail could be wrong. For every mistake, he added another hour of punishment. When it was over, he drew the flushed woman in his arms close and murmured in a gentle, husky voice: "Xuxu, deceive me one more time. Tell me you're my wife." For Wang Guanling, hatred was the most potent aphrodisiac. Xuxu was the only ingredient his remedy needed. Theme: A person can be destroyed, but must never be defeated