The Emperor and the Regent [Disguised as a Man]

Three years ago, the late emperor passed away. On the eve of his coronation, the nineteen-year-old crown prince suddenly fell gravely ill and slipped into a coma.

At the time, Great Zhou was already beset by internal and external crises. To keep a firm hold on power, Empress Dowager Zhang forced the princess Su Rong, who closely resembled the crown prince and was about the same age, to disguise herself as a man and take the throne in his place.

They had intended to switch back once the crown prince recovered. But no one expected the poison in his body to be so difficult to remove. He never woke up again.

For the next three years, Su Rong was forced to disguise herself as a man and serve as an emperor in name only, bearing the crown prince's identity while struggling to keep the tottering dynasty afloat.

Born into humble circumstances, Su Rong had gone hungry and cold since childhood. She had never enjoyed a single day of a princess's life and had always had to watch others' expressions. Though this upbringing had made her timid and sensitive, she retained her kind nature, cared deeply for the people, and did her utmost to be a good emperor.

But one person could not stop a collapsing dynasty from falling. A rebellion erupted along the southern border, and the rebels marched straight for Chang'an. To save the imperial clan, the empress dowager sought help from Shen Jin, Prince of Jian'an, promising him the position of regent if he sent troops to put down the rebellion.

The rebellion was quickly quelled. The regent Shen Jin, wrapped in an aura of violence and bloodlust, entered the Xuanzheng Hall in armor and with his sword in hand. Seeing the layers of dried blood, dark and pale, crisscrossing his armor, everyone felt a chill for the frail young emperor on the throne.

Everyone knew that the late emperor had once listened to slander and slaughtered more than a hundred members of the Zhenbei Prince Shen Boyuan's clan. Only his young son Shen Jin had escaped. Now the balance of power had shifted, and the regent was unlikely to spare the Zhao imperial clan.

Especially the "crown prince" sitting on the throne.

The regent Shen Jin was ruthless and stone-hearted. His only wish in life was to slaughter the entire Zhao clan and take the throne for himself.

At first, as he watched the emperor on the throne, as fragile as a lamb, he thought about how to slowly torture him to death. The more cruelly, the better. The more cruelly, the more it would soothe his hatred.

Later, as he gazed at that long, snow-white neck, all he could think was how beautiful it was.

Wouldn't it be even more satisfying to bite right through it?

A gentle, compassionate heroine who cares for the world × an ambitious, ruthless hero

Both are each other's first and only. The hero is a little unhinged, and becomes very, very nasty in the middle.

Heroine: 20. Hero: 23.

The heroine's true identity is revealed early. This is not a story about an exceptionally powerful heroine.

Set in a fictionalized mid-to-late Tang dynasty. A historical mash-up, so don't overanalyze it.

Theme: Never give up