The Runaway Bride

[Drafting. Outline is over 10,000 words. I'll start once enough people have added it to their collections.]

Blurb:

Her elder brother, Shen Ke, was the person Ming Fu cared about most.

He protected her as she grew up in the lonely palace. The day rebels invaded the imperial capital, he was the one who took her hand and led her to safety.

Their land lay in ruins, and their former glory was gone. Stripped of the noble status of prince and princess, she and her brother wandered from place to place.

But Ming Fu didn't care about any of that.

As long as she could stay with her dear brother forever, everything would be fine.

Until one night, her brother, intent on restoring their dynasty, gently took her hand and said softly:

"The prince of the Helian tribe has taken a liking to you. He says you are precious, and is willing to trade thirty thousand cavalry for you."

Shen Ke had always been proud of never regretting anything in his life.

He didn't regret the years he had spent relying on her, nor did he regret using her sincere feelings.

Just a little longer.

He thought that once his great plan was complete, he would bring her back to his side and never part from her again.

Then why, on the day he successfully shifted the danger elsewhere and turned the world upside down, did she choose to die alongside Helian Jing, leaving him only one blurred, resentful glance?

Shen Ke rushed into the sea of flames like a madman to save her. When he opened his eyes again, he had returned to seven years earlier

He was holding her trembling hand, having just escaped the fire that had burned the imperial capital to the ground.

Seventeen-year-old Shen Ke, covered in soot, told her, Don't be afraid. Your brother is here.

Before the little princess from the Central Plains gave him the name "Jing," Helian Jing was more accustomed to hearing other names.

His people submitted to him and called him Great King. The people of the Central Plains feared him and called him barbarian. While the woman who gave birth to him was still alive, when she was in a good mood, she would sometimes softly call him: Aleda.

Only she would wrap her arms around his neck and say, "Helian Jing, you're such a good person. I like you."

She taught him to read difficult books and write complicated characters, and taught him to see himself as a person, not just a beast who ate raw meat and drank blood.

Ten thousand times, he regretted letting his eyes lead him to bring home such a troublesome girl.

But for the ten-thousand-and-first time, he would still take her hand and swear to the snow-capped mountains that never thawed

In this life, the next life, and every life after that... he would be with Shen Ming Fu forever, never to part.

The heroine is a resilient little white flower; the male lead is a dark, career-focused schemer; the second male lead is a mixed-blood romantic fool.

Both the male and female leads are reborn, and the second male lead will retain some memories.

The male lead and second male lead are both one-woman men. Their labels distinguish their roles in the story and don't indicate the heroine's final choice.

This is a completely melodramatic mess of a story, with absolutely no standards or morals (on my part). If that's not your thing, proceed with caution.

First draft completed on 25.10.26.

The numbers mentioned in the blurb are figurative and are just for convenience. See the main story for specifics (I know thirty thousand cavalry is an absurdly large number).

*I changed the original blurb for this upcoming story. I really couldn't get into the previous plot idea. Feel free to add it to your collections or not. Sorry! T.T

Theme: Be honest about love.