The Princess's Favorite (Women Rule)

PS: The woman is not a virgin, the man is, and the man can bear children.

Blurb:

Just after Mu Shao returned victorious from her campaign, her third elder sister sent a spy to her residence as a gift to celebrate her promotion to prince. He was apparently Yun Miao, the star performer of Lanxiang Pavilion, the capital's top entertainment house.

After all, she'd spent ten years leading troops in the field and had more fresh and old wounds than she could count. She should have at least been made a king. But she was an unfavored princess, with no mother to dote on her and no desire to fight for the throne.

She couldn't tell if sending her such a low-class gift was meant to mock her or ruin her.

Mu Shao didn't refuse. She simply had him brought into her residence.

That night, as the servants carried the man into her room wrapped in a brocade quilt, she was leaning back and listening to music with a cup of light wine at her side. Just then, she caught sight of his jade-white feet peeking out from the quilt. His rounded toes, white with a rosy hue, stirred her desire.

Mu Shao gave in to temptation and reached out to touch him. When she saw his foot tense, she found it quite amusing, but still waved her hand and ordered the servants to carry him back.

One late night, he appeared barefoot in a white robe and offered her a dance like a sacrificial rite. At last, he got what he wanted and drew Mu Shao into his tender embrace, where they lost themselves together amid a sea of flowers and a blazing, perilous path.

But so what if she liked him? A spy was still a spy. She couldn't take him seriously. It was only a bit of fun.

If she truly fell for him, it would surely end badly.

Just look at her. She'd fallen for him after all.

Short scene:

In the dead of winter, the room was so poor there wasn't even charcoal for a fire. Mu Shao didn't mind for herself, but she was afraid her precious beauty would freeze.

But he only knelt beside the bed, sniffling, eyes red. Scalding tears fell one by one into the torn flesh of her leg wound, where the bone showed. The pain made her jolt.

Mu Shao helplessly lifted his trembling chin, wiping away the tears her fingers couldn't catch. "It's all right. You are the best medicine for me."

Theme: Uprightness can withstand a thousand blows.