After Being Forced to Humiliate the Fallen Crown Prince

[Steadfast, kind-hearted cleaning maid x gloomy, corrupted former crown prince]

When Lan Yan was sent to the imperial prison, she knew she was a tool the Third Prince would use to humiliate the former crown prince.

After his rebellion failed, the former crown prince was blinded with poison and imprisoned. In consideration of their father-son bond, the current emperor sent him the daughter of his former Grand Tutor, a woman once betrothed to him, to take care of him.

Lan Yan was naturally not the Grand Tutor's daughter.

She was merely a cleaning maid in the Grand Tutor's household.

On her first day in the imperial prison, she looked at the former crown prince, who had once been handsome and dignified, with the bearing of a dragon. Now he was shackled, disheveled, and utterly wretched. She recalled the Third Prince's threat against her family's lives.

She knelt before him and said softly, "Your Highness, it's me, Rao'er."

He had been afflicted with a love spell. At first, he resisted and loathed her, but she seduced and fawned on him again and again, until he gradually fell completely into bottomless lust for her.

Later, in their most intimate moments, he would hold her tightly in his arms, his voice husky as he called her "Rao'er" again and again in a tender whisper.

Lan Yan could only find it ironic, for the Rao'er he spoke of was currently entwined with the Third Prince, lost in passion and deep affection.

The two of them were plotting to soon remove his poison and let the once proud, aloof crown prince see with his own eyes that the person who had been coupling with him all this time was merely a lowly maid, with hideous red blotches covering her face and a revolting appearance.

Lan Yan waited for the day he would look at her with loathing. Instead, another palace coup came. The former crown prince's forces surrounded the capital, and the man was respectfully escorted out of the imperial prison to ascend the throne.

In the chaos, Lan Yan escaped the capital with her younger siblings. Half a month later, she heard that the Third Prince had been executed, while the former Grand Tutor's daughter, Jiang Rao of the Jiang family, had been summoned to the new emperor's harem.

Lan Yan thought that was fine by her.

To secure a way to survive, she had a village matchmaker introduce her to a widower with a limp.

On her wedding night, the coarse red veil was suddenly torn away. Hundreds of imperial guards stood in formation outside the courtyard. The man's eyes, once empty and lifeless, reflected her terrified, trembling figure. He lifted her chin, his smile terrifyingly unhinged.

"Rao'er, didn't you swear you'd stay by my side forever? So whose bride are you preparing to become...?"

Reading guide:

1. One-on-one romance, both leads are virgins, happy ending.

2. The male lead loves the female lead's soul, not her appearance, and is extremely possessive. The female lead's face will heal, and once it does, she'll be the most beautiful woman in the world.

Synopsis written on July 2, 2026. Screenshot as proof.

Theme: Keep your heart turned toward the light, and you will have the courage to press forward.