[Brooding, Unhinged New Emperor vs. Gentle Yet Strong Princess of a Fallen Kingdom]
Jiang Yuan was the most cherished and revered little princess of Great Liang.
When Great Liang conquered Great Zhou, she spotted a pitiful young man in the death-row prison. Poking her little head out, she said in a sweet, babyish voice, "I like you quite a lot. Would you be willing to become this princess's slave?"
The little slave obediently nodded, and Jiang Yuan was delighted.
What she didn't know was that his eyes were filled with murderous hatred.
Ten years later, Great Liang fell, and Jiang Yuan became a prisoner. To avoid being humiliated, she drank poison and took her own life.
The new emperor saved her. In front of the assembled officials, he gripped her chin and smiled faintly. "Want to die? It's not that easy. I was the princess's slave for ten years. Now it's the princess's turn."
Jiang Yuan's heart turned to ash, and from then on she became a soft, fragrant treasure in his imperial palace.
*
Shen Qingyun was born in the palace's Yeting quarters, an illegitimate prince who had to live in the shadows and whom anyone could trample underfoot.
After ascending the throne, he personally slaughtered his enemies, used their ashes to nourish flowers, their skulls as cages, and their leg bones as pens.
Yet he ignored his court officials' objections and spared Jiang Yuan. He thought he must have gone mad. What did he want with a woman who had humiliated him for ten years and whose heart belonged to someone else?
But on those sleepless nights, when they tangled together on the couch and he could no longer restrain his feelings, his voice hoarse, he would call, "Yuanyuan..."
As if a ray of sunlight had escaped, wicked thoughts took root in his heart. Even if she didn't belong to him, she should fall into ruin alongside him.
*
At the hunting grounds on a mountain cliff, Shen Qingyun gripped her chin and snarled, "Still thinking about that consort? Then jump and join him in death!"
He thought she wouldn't dare, that she'd cry and beg him like she always had. But she suddenly burst into laughter, hatred in her eyes. "The day Father bestowed that marriage, I knew it was you. But I... did it willingly."
He panicked at once and rushed toward her like a madman, only to see Jiang Yuan smile in satisfaction before leaping off the cliff.
Shen Qingyun crumpled to the ground, able to grasp only a strip of silk.
The usually composed new emperor vomited blood on the spot and wept uncontrollably.
Back when the Emperor of Great Liang arranged Jiang Yuan's marriage, jealousy had driven him mad. In the dead of night, he had covered her with a strip of silk and pretended to be her husband as he kissed her.
So she had always known, and had treasured it all those years.
"Young love is no mere childish talk"
☆ The male lead doesn't realize he's in love. Later, the female lead grows cunning and deliberately fakes her death to wound him.
☆ Healing, SC, HE, 1v1
☆ Love by force + you chase, I flee
☆ The leads have no blood feud between their families
Theme: Keep kindness in your heart
