Your Highness, Why Are You Acting This Way?

[They reunite at the start / Six-year age gap / Pseudo-sisters with no blood relation / Both are adults when they fall in love] [Obsessive, scheming younger top vs gentle, radiant older bottom (roughly 0.8 vs 0.2)] [Crown Princess (later) vs female physician] The powerful and influential Eldest Princess, who governed in the emperor's stead, had a young daughter who was targeted for assassination at the age of six. At the critical moment between life and death, the little princess was rescued by the Rong family, who had been sent to Jingzhou. From then on, she took a new surname and name, becoming the Rong family's second daughter, Rong Wenshu. The Rong family did not know her real identity, and Madam Rong treated her coldly. The household servants were adept at reading the room, and often neglected her or looked at her with disdain. Even the ladies and young misses from other households looked down on her after hearing that she was an illegitimate daughter. The eldest daughter of the Rong family, Rong Wenhua, had been upright, generous, and kind since childhood. She protected her beneath her wing, personally tending to her when she was ill, taking care of her clothes and meals, and keeping her company in their daily life. Five years later, an upheaval left the two of them stranded in a remote village. It was her elder sister who carried her, gravely ill and unconscious, through the night in search of a doctor. They had only each other. When they were finally sent back to the capital, "Rong Wenshu" became Li Xu. It was also her elder sister who, worried about her being alone in this perilous place, asked to become an apprentice to the head of the Imperial Medical Academy. Rong Wenhua was able to stay at the Eldest Princess's residence, where she studied medicine with great effort, leaving at dawn and returning at dusk, all so the two could still see each other from time to time. They endured this difficult life for four years. At last, when Li Xu turned fifteen and came of age, she was granted a residence and a title, and it seemed their lives were about to improve. But her elder sister said, "Every day and night in this princess's residence, I feel like I can't breathe," and wanted to cut off their relationship once and for all... Rong Wenhua left without hesitation, accompanying her retiring teacher back to her hometown. She was gone for five years. Li Xu had long since lost track of when the affection in her heart had changed into something else. Over the years, she had felt guilt, hatred, and longing, and had even sneaked off to see her... When her elder sister finally returned to the capital, the feelings Li Xu had kept repressed at last twisted into dark vines. All she wanted was to climb inch by inch around her and keep her forever, so tightly that not even a breath of air could pass between them. * A human life lasts barely a hundred years. In what role, and under what identity, should one make a place for oneself in this world? Having lived for more than twenty years without accomplishing anything, Rong Wenhua felt deeply dissatisfied. To find a place for herself in the world, she waited until Li Xu was settled, then accompanied her teacher back home to study medicine. When she returned to the capital five years later, she had expected Li Xu to hate, resent, and blame her. After all, she had said something thoughtless and hurt her first. But she never expected that this notorious "tiger of the court," a ruthless phoenix reborn from the ashes, would still treat her as she always had. She would personally go before the emperor to help her out of a difficult situation, wheedle and cajole her into staying at the residence, and, drunk, fall to her knees before her, wrap her arms around her waist, and weep as she called her "Elder Sister" again and again. The deep affection of their sisterhood had been rekindled. But... it also seemed somehow different from before. The princess would compete with her young apprentice for her attention, coax her into calling her "Big Sister" for the princess to hear, and casually climb into her bed to sleep beside her. The princess's burning gaze always lingered on her, even as she said, "Elder Sister, you care more about other people now." "Did you ever hold someone else while you slept like this?" "Elder Sister... won't you sit on top? Please." Why was the princess acting like this...? Also known as: The Crown Princess Deliberately Tempts Her, While Her Oblivious Elder Sister Has No Idea; I Thought of the Crown Princess as My Little Sister, But She Wants to Get Intimate With Me? Theme: Be self-reliant and strive to improve