The Consort Still Doesn't Want to Die Today (Matriarchy)

The Great Zhou Dynasty has a strict law: when the late emperor dies, all the childless members of his harem must be buried with him.

When the new emperor, Xu Qingyan, went to see them off, she found everyone in the hall crying out in despair.

Suddenly, a man fell at her feet. Though the palace maids were about to tear his delicate body apart as they dragged him away, he clutched the hem of her skirt and refused to let go.

He raised his face, tears beading at the corners of his bright red eyes. "I want to live."

She studied him for a moment, then smiled and lifted his chin.

"No one who belonged to my imperial mother gets to live today. Unless..."

"I beg Your Majesty to show mercy."

"That depends on how you beg."

His lashes fluttered. As if struggling, he seemed to loosen his collar by accident, revealing a stretch of pale skin two inches below his neck.

Mm-hmm.

Later, he turned the court and harem upside down, and every minister jointly petitioned for him to be executed.

When Xu Qingyan went to his bedchamber, she found him holding a bottle of hedinghong, about to drink it in one gulp.

She snatched the bottle away, poured out the sour plum drink inside, grabbed his wrist, and stared at his eyes, which shimmered with hidden emotion and slanted upward at the corners.

"If the Empress Consort really wants to die, I can grant your wish."

"Would Your Majesty bear to?"

"...I could also find you another way to die."

The female lead is heartless, and the male lead is a fox spirit.

One-on-one romance, the male lead is sexually inexperienced while the female lead isn't, male pregnancy, harem, love at first sight, marriage before love.

Next up: The Garuda King and the Young Immortal [Matriarchy]. Please add it to your reading list.

The Garuda King, fallen into the mortal world, picked up a man.

He was beautiful, pitiful, and frail. When she found him, he was only a little way from being buried alive. Though he depended entirely on her for survival, he still dared to charge forward and challenge her when murderous rage swept over her.

She thought she might as well keep him as a pet cat. He barely ate anything, after all.

But later, with a blazing inferno behind him, his eyes alight with reflected flames, he smiled. "My lord wouldn't throw away everything for my sake, would she? Then I might as well make it easy for you."

Then, right before her eyes, he fell and was burned to ashes by the karmic fire.

The Garuda King, who had betrayed the celestial realm and become cruel and violent, suddenly could no longer see through things.

Many years ago, she shook her golden, glittering wings and teased him without restraint. "They say the young immortal is merciful and saves all who suffer. Would you save someone like me, who has put a hole through the Six Realms?"

With a divine mark between his brows, the young immortal was upright and composed, yet he blushed quietly. "I'll save you. You just have to come to me first."

Theme: Life is hard, but love shines bright.