Spring at the Imperial Palace

After Yuan Mingwan fell into disgrace, the people who used to curry favor with her avoided her like the plague. Only the Crown Prince treated her as he always had, gently drawing her into his arms. The Crown Prince, Yuan Qin, was blessed with striking looks and noble character, as radiant as the breeze and moonlight. He had been raised at the Empress's side since childhood. Yuan Mingwan knew that as long as her imperial brother remained the heir, there would always be hope that she and her mother could survive. But after her imperial brother ascended the throne before their father's coffin, his very first edict accused the late emperor's empress of trying to muddle the imperial bloodline and declared that she must be deposed. Princess Lanling, Yuan Mingwan, ignored the night rain pouring down in sheets. With her hair loose, she knelt before Zichen Hall and asked to be reduced to commoner status, surrendering her fief in exchange for taking her mother's punishment upon herself. She clung to a sliver of hope, but her once upright and gentle brother was no longer the same. He threw her into prison and treated her as an accomplice. From then on, the once-renowned Princess Lanling vanished without a trace, while a secret beauty appeared at the emperor's side. That night, Zichen Hall was ablaze with light. The emperor rose from his couch and draped a robe over himself, then gently caressed the sleeping beauty. With a sigh, he said, "Qianqian, you said that in this life, you wanted to depend on your brother. Your brother will make that wish come true." The beauty was marked with the seal of "Made for the Emperor." She became the emperor's possession, hidden away in the inner palace for his amusement. At last, she escaped while the emperor was getting married. That night, just after the carriage had left Chang'an, Gu Wan, dressed as a peasant woman inside it, heard a loud crash outside. She lifted the curtain and saw her lover at the side of the carriage, an arrow lodged in his chest. His body crashed to the ground. The emperor, dressed in riding clothes, rode out from the woods. Looking down at her with a smile, he said, "I have always enjoyed hunting wild foxes at night. I hope I haven't frightened you, Qianqian." "Qianqian, you are always so willful and naive." He gently wiped the tears from Ji Wan's cheek. "Beneath the sun and moon, all land belongs to the king. The empress is carrying my child. With nothing but a wild fox for company, where do you think you can run?" * When the late emperor was alive, he would often hold the young Princess Lanling in his arms and say to the Eastern Palace, "I am gravely ill. If my life is cut short, you must care for your sisters and find them good husbands." The Eastern Palace was deeply filial. Each time, he could only kneel and weep, unable to promise. Years later, the Eastern Palace ascended the throne, listed the late emperor and empress's crimes one by one, reduced Princess Lanling to a commoner, struck her from the imperial clan register, and imprisoned her in the emperor's palace. Those who had once hoped to marry the princess were all executed by the emperor. He had once been a virtuous young man, praised by all, yet when it came to her, he refused to give way even an inch, earning himself a name steeped in sin and infamy. "If sitting on this throne still means I can't do whatever I want, then what fun is it?" Reader's Guide One-on-one romance, happy ending. No blood relation during the time they are together. Theme: Only by lowering your guard can you find lasting happiness.