The Groom's Deceit

Later, the history books recorded that the matriarch was a noblewoman of the Wang clan of Langya.

At the time, half the court officials had been cultivated by the Wang clan, whose power was at its height. The matriarch was born to privilege and was also the most beautiful woman in her family.

When a new ruler was enthroned, the Wang clan chose to work with Lang Lingji, supporting him until he became the most powerful minister.

In the prime of her youth, the matriarch had also married the head of the household without hesitation, accompanying him from obscurity to the highest ranks of the court.

The matriarch had nothing like her elders' ambitions. All she wanted from marriage was harmony between husband and wife, and a life spent side by side.

Yet for years, the head of the household had treated her with icy indifference. Their marriage barely held together, and she had borne him no children.

Later, the head of the household went south of the Yangtze, where he met a Yangzhou courtesan. She was beautiful, naturally seductive, and skilled at ensnaring men.

She had been given to a county magistrate as a concubine, but the head of the household rescued her. She was fortunate enough to have served him twice, and was already pregnant.

The courtesan knelt before the matriarch and offered her tea as a concubine. "This servant and the master love one another. I only wish to serve him. I beg the madam to grant us your blessing."

"If the madam will not take me in, I can only take the child and wander the streets."

She was barely eighteen, while the matriarch was twenty-five, already past her prime.

As the matriarch thought back over the past, she understood that the reason she and the head of the household had treated each other like ice for so many years was not that he did not know how to be tender. He simply had no regard for her as his proper wife.

A proper wife was just a tool for a political marriage.

He had only wanted to rise to power with the Wang clan's support. Once he had used it, he discarded it.

The matriarch was angered into illness by the couple. Years of exhaustion took their toll, and she died in the very year her husband reached the highest office.

Snow fell as she lay dying, while red plum blossoms were in full bloom.

Reborn, she returned to the carefree days of her youth.

Chasing the wind, daydreaming, writing poetry, riding horseback into the wind...

Her powerful family, her elders' support, and several brothers in the clan who loved and cherished her gave her the chance to choose again.

Beneath the bright spring sun, at the place where she had first pledged her love in her previous life,

she told her family elders in front of Lang Lingji that she wanted to marry the newly appointed young Court Astrologer.

The head of the household, who had once sat calmly and confidently, finally found her. His grip on her wrist was dark and cold.

Hengheng, tell me again. Who are you marrying?

She lifted her chin and answered firmly.

She could accompany him from obscurity to the highest ranks of the court, but only if she chose to.

What if she did not?

Lang Lingji, I don't want you anymore.

[Reading Guide]

* "A Saint with a Rotten Heart": Both leads are virgins; rebirth; coercive pursuit; the male lead regrets his actions and pursues his wife; alternate setting; reconciliation after a breakup; a tragic love full of hatred; highly intelligent leads; alternate setting loosely modeled on the Eastern Jin; not a female-led story, not plot-driven, not a wish-fulfillment novel

* Suffocating coercive pursuit, with an antagonist-type male lead

* [Highly intelligent, ascetic, career-driven, aloof and refined villainous minister x silent, cold, numb, dignified noblewoman]

* The novel is frequently revised. Please read the only authorized edition on Jinjiang

* The cover was purchased under an exclusive license from the artist

* Weibo: @Traveler's Cloak

More novels with similar coercive romances:

"Lang Qi" ●

"A Concubine's Heart Cannot Be Broken"

"Sighs from a Golden Cage"

"A Fine Son, a Fine Wife"

Theme: Everyone is equal. Strive tirelessly for a better life.