The Aloof Crown Prince Was Bullied into Becoming a Sycophant

[Your favorite is back, so come get them! Editing as I go. Next novel: Wake Up! This Is a Horror Game! [Infinite]]

The State of Qi suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Song several months ago. Crown Prince Zhao Mingye was forced to travel to Song, where he unexpectedly managed to secure peace.

Half a month later, however, a hundred thousand Song troops appeared at Qi's borders. Empress Song Chaoyu announced that she would marry no one but him.

Zhao Mingye gritted his teeth. For the sake of Qi's people, he put on wedding robes and became the sole concubine in Song Chaoyu's otherwise empty imperial harem.

On their wedding night, the empress, slightly tipsy, slowly lifted his veil.

Song Chaoyu raised her phoenix eyes, her expression unreadable, and teased him. "Is this how the Crown Prince of Qi serves someone?"

He looked up in humiliation, his eyes full of barely suppressed shame.

He hated the way Song Chaoyu degraded him and dragged him into the mire. Carefully plotting each step, he meant to make her fall, to turn her into a tyrant infamous throughout history for indulging in beauty.

But he was like a canary she had bought on a whim. When she was bored, she would glance at him; when she was happy, she would forget all about him.

Later, he realized he seemed to have fallen into the false reality he had created, growing more and more obsessed until he could no longer pull himself free.

He set aside the dignity of a crown prince, hoping only that Song Chaoyu would spare him a glance.

-

Someone once asked Song Chaoyu whether she had ever fallen for Zhao Mingye.

She smiled, plucked a peony, and tossed it into the water. "A hundred flowers compete for beauty in the garden, yet this peony is the loveliest of all. If you pluck it, you only want to possess its beauty. That doesn't necessarily mean you love peonies."

Besides, she would never give her heart to anyone.

She saw through his schemes and was happy to play along. She wanted to see what pointless struggle this little canary in her harem would attempt.

But in this game of wits, she could no longer tell who had taken the bait first.

[Blurb screenshot taken on June 5]

A little skit

Zhao Mingye:

Day one: I hate her.

Day two: I hate her.

Day three: *sob sob* Your Majesty, please spare your servant a glance.

Day four: Your Majesty, I have fallen for you.

Day five: Do you like my wife? Are you better-looking than me? More talented than me? If not, get lost.

Day six: Chaoyu, you gave me all these wonderful tribute gifts. Won't your childhood friend get mad?

[Beautiful, ruthless, capricious, unhinged empress x fake aloof, scheming, love-struck prince who loves competing with men and is sent to marry for peace]

Reader's guide

The male lead is completely, purely love-struck.

Not your typical groveling-to-win-her-back story.

One-on-one, female lead has no other partners, male lead is a virgin, happy ending.

The female lead is a womanizer and doesn't follow conventional feminine virtue.

If that bothers you, don't read. My daughter is always right.

Fans of virtuous men are welcome.

Marriage before love.

The male lead really suffers.

The female lead has an ex-boyfriend.

Blurb for "Plucking Peaches"

Rong Jixia has lived with her maternal uncle's family since childhood, with no word from her parents. To investigate her background, she carefully stages a "hero-rescuing beauty" scheme, hoping to meet Yan Shisui, the eldest Yan son who works in the Ministry of Justice.

But a moment's miscalculation leads her to injure Yan Nanyu, the second Yan son, whose moods are notoriously unpredictable.

He commands the Office of Clear Investigation and oversees the prisons. He's dark-hearted and venomous, a smiling tiger.

She wants to run, but Yan Nanyu latches onto her. The elegant young man, barely eighteen or nineteen, looks at her like a beast eyeing its prey.

He demands she take responsibility, even using that as leverage to make her care for him around the clock.

She refuses. He merely smiles. "Assaulting an official is a capital offense. You don't want to go before the authorities, do you, Peach?"

For some reason, though, his injury doesn't heal for months.

Fortunately, this also gives her a chance to meet Yan Shisui.

Yan Shisui is nothing like Yan Nanyu. He's gentle, courteous, and never oversteps.

Yan Nanyu likes to tease her, watch her, and run his mouth. They have the same rotten streak, and there's no one they can't pick a fight with. There's always a show to watch when they're around.

Yan Shisui brings her favorite osmanthus cakes and gently keeps her company as they play chess and drink tea. Whenever he wants to touch her head, his hand always stops an inch away.

When she's scared there might be a monster outside her window after reading a strange tale, Yan Nanyu calls her childish and cowardly, then turns around and puts a lamp that burns all night by her window. She knows he's all bark and no bite.

But she still hasn't figured out her feelings when, one day, she passes a rock garden and hears the brothers arguing.

The usually gentle Yan Shisui loses his temper for the first time. "I may be your older brother, but I don't want to give her up."

Yan Nanyu sneers. "Peach was the one who schemed to get close to me. She loves me."

Rong Jixia wants to run again, but when she turns, the two of them spot her and block her behind the rock garden.

Yan Shisui's eyes grow dark. "Peach, who do you love?"

A storm rages in Yan Nanyu's eyes as he closes in, step by step. "I think you're in love with me, aren't you?"

"There can't be two masters on one mountain. I caught you first."

"So don't run."

"And you can't get away."

Blurb for "After My Mad Hound Cousin Clung to Me"

A new emperor ascends the throne, and the Su family, trusted allies of the late emperor, are imprisoned for their crimes. To save her family, Su Tang swallows her pride and seeks refuge with the distant relatives of the Prince of Zhennan. She becomes a young lady of the household, then seduces the second son to secure her position.

On the day of the marriage negotiations, the veil hiding her scar is blown up into a tree. The Jiang family despises her for shamelessly pursuing power by any means, and no one helps as she stands there helplessly.

Just as she's about to give up, a shadow leaps onto the branch and retrieves her veil.

She reaches to take it, but he holds it tight. She looks up and falls into a pair of dark, eagle-like eyes. As he gazes at her, his eyes hold a madness that seems close to breaking.

He is Jiang Hansheng, heir to the Prince of Zhennan. She expects him to put her in her place, but instead he gently tucks the veil behind her ear, as if what she saw just now had been a trick of the light.

That night, the Prince of Zhennan dies, and Jiang Hansheng, who should be overseeing the funeral, appears in her room.

He traps her against him, one hand covering her lips, the other playing with her slender waist. His voice is achingly seductive. "Come with me. I'll save your family and give you everything you want."

Hearing this, Su Tang stops struggling and lets him take her.

Much later, Jiang Hansheng gazes at Su Tang, her eyes brimming with allure, and wipes the blood from the corner of her lips, smiling with satisfaction.

She doesn't know that she was once the sun he gazed up at so carefully, never daring to touch. But if she was destined to lose her wings and fall into the mire, he would rather be the one to break them.

Jiang Hansheng thought he could keep Su Tang confined for the rest of their lives, even if the sun and darkness could never coexist.

But then the Jiang family is falsely accused, and the entire family is soon sentenced to death. He falls from the heights of privilege to the depths of despair. To save his family, he seeks help from the leader of an intelligence network with agents in many countries.

Only to discover that the leader is Su Tang.

Her sweet smile seems laced with poison as she looks down at him. "Jiang Hansheng, be my dog."

He laughs like a madman.

So the sun he once gazed up at so carefully was just like him.

They were made for each other.

One person's honey is another's poison.

Beneath Su Tang's sweet exterior lies deadly poison, but to Jiang Hansheng, it is honey he willingly savors.

Theme: Love and redemption, setting out toward the light