The Concubine's Daughter's Path to Becoming a Favored Consort

New novel, "The Coldhearted Favorite Consort", now updating →

Because Huizhi was born to a concubine, her legal mother deliberately kept her down.

For fifteen years, outsiders never even knew that the Duke of Zhenguo had a second daughter. They simply assumed that the Duchess of Zhenguo had her husband well in hand, and that both his son and daughter were born to her.

As Huizhi grew older, she became increasingly dazzling and alluring, with a naturally seductive charm. Her legal mother detested her and planned to marry her off far away, sending her somewhere she would never have to see her again.

The day her wedding date was set happened to be the Spring Equinox. Feeling stifled, Huizhi went alone to the apricot grove in the countryside to enjoy the spring and lift her spirits.

She suddenly felt a scorching gaze following her. Raising her eyes, she saw a servant dressed in fine silks approaching and politely asking which family's young lady she was.

Angry that her legal mother intended to marry her off as a second wife, Huizhi forgot her mother's warning and openly admitted that she was the daughter of Yuan Zhen, Duke of Zhenguo.

Satisfied with her answer, the man left.

**

Crown Prince Duanmu Yanqing was the son of Emperor Gonghui's first empress. He was made crown prince at the age of eight and entered the Eastern Palace, where Emperor Gonghui personally educated him. He had also inherited his late mother's peerless beauty, making him a refined, modest, and elegant heir with strikingly clear features.

At eighteen, Duanmu Yanqing went on a spring outing. In an apricot grove, he fell in love at first sight with a beautiful young woman.

He sent someone to inquire and learned she was a young lady of the Duke of Zhenguo's household.

Everyone knew that Yuan Zhen, Duke of Zhenguo, had a daughter named Yuan Junran, whom he cherished like the apple of his eye. She was as beautiful as an immortal.

Certain that the woman he had seen in the grove was Yuan Junran, Duanmu Yanqing begged his father to arrange their marriage.

The imperial decree of marriage arrived soon afterward. Duanmu Yanqing had gotten his wish and eagerly looked forward to marrying the woman he loved the following year.

But just as the decree was about to be delivered to the Duke of Zhenguo's residence, Duanmu Yanqing unexpectedly learned that the duke had another daughter.

That very day was Huizhi's wedding day...

**

Duanmu Yanqing did not storm in to steal the bride, nor did he even show his face. On the day Huizhi was to be married, he simply summoned Yuan Zhen alone and gave him two choices: cancel the wedding and send both sisters into the Eastern Palace, or sit back and watch the Yuan family be destroyed.

Even if the Yuan family were gone, he could still have her.

Yuan Zhen understood this just as well.

Without the slightest hesitation, and despite his wife's desperate objections, Yuan Zhen unilaterally canceled the wedding and restored Huizhi's status as a concubine-born daughter.

Only then did the capital learn that the Duke of Zhenguo's household had a second young lady, who was about to enter the Eastern Palace alongside her elder sister as a secondary consort.

The following year, spring returned and flowers bloomed. The crown prince's wedding was celebrated throughout the empire.

On their wedding night, Duanmu Yanqing, who should have been sharing the bridal chamber with Yuan Junran, appeared in Huizhi's room instead.

Huizhi, fast asleep, knew nothing of it. She had no idea that from that night onward, Duanmu Yanqing's unrestrained favoritism would carry her all the way to the pinnacle of power, until she became the mother of the empire!

[This novel has been fully revised. Please read the revised version.]

Now updating: "The Coldhearted Favorite Consort"

A cool, sickly beauty × an obsessive, domineering older man

Blurb: Huifeng has a kind of cruelty that comes close to innocence.

The ultimate in fickleness is to be born without a heart or feelings.

Sickly from childhood, Huifeng's vitality and attention were wholly focused on her health. As a result, she was born without the chord called love.

No matter how passionately or deeply you love her, she remains unmoved.

Li Chengyan was neither the legitimate eldest son nor the eldest child. He was made crown prince as a son of a concubine, and from the time he could remember, he lived in a world of schemes and deceit. He carefully plotted every step from a young age. To secure his position as heir, he had shed untold amounts of blood and driven countless political enemies' families to ruin, leaving them wishing for death but unable to die.

Once he ascended the throne, he became the ruler of all under heaven. With a single command, no one dared disobey!

He believed the entire world was under his control.

He was no longer satisfied with her simply staying by his side.

He began demanding that Huifeng love him.

Just as he loved her.

-

Huifeng never loved Li Chengyan, from beginning to end.

At first, he used her clan as leverage to force her to go with him. Later, he threatened the people dearest to her to make her obediently bear his child. Finally, he exploited her maternal instincts and used their child's future to force her to truly love him, just as he loved her.

Huifeng did the first two things, but when it came to the last, no matter how much she deceived and forced herself, she could not feel even the slightest affection for Li Chengyan. All she felt was helpless impatience and irritation. She did not even hate him with any real intensity.

"I cut out my heart and gave it to you. Why don't you want it? What am I to you?"

The emperor, past thirty, trembled as he tried to control his strength. He covered Huifeng's eyes, as empty as a cold pool, so he would not have to look at his own nearly distorted face. With a bitter smile, his voice almost pleading, he said, "Just pretend. Do it for your child."

Realizing that the person in his arms could never love him, Li Chengyan placed his fingers on her carotid artery and stroked its warm pulse again and again, feeling the life of the person he loved beating little by little beneath his palm. Beyond saving, he threatened her: "Say you will never leave me, not in your whole life."

P.S. ① The heroine is somewhat emotionally hollow.

② The male lead is not a virgin, while the female lead is.

③ Forced possession.

④ The male lead is nine years older than the female lead.

Theme: Self-reliance