The Bright Moon Shines on the Nine Provinces

This year, I'm publishing "The Tyrant's Pretend White Moonlight"

#I disguised myself as a man, but the Crown Prince found out and forced me to remove my disguise#

[Cool, aloof heir in male disguise x ruthless, possessive Crown Prince]

Fu Guiyi, heir to the Prince of Zhennan, guarded a secret as though walking on thin ice.

She was actually the prince's biological younger sister, and had willingly disguised herself as a man to take her missing brother's place as a hostage in the capital.

Fu Guiyi was extremely cautious in the palace, but someone still saw through her disguise.

In a dark inner room, the current Crown Prince, Pei Jing, seized Fu Guiyi by the throat. His gaze was shadowy, his voice hoarse.

"As long as you behave, your secret will remain safe, and the Prince of Zhennan's household will be unharmed."

Fu Guiyi was forced to give in. She let Pei Jing do as he pleased, not daring to show the slightest resentment.

After that night, rumors spread that the Crown Prince and the heir to the Prince of Zhennan were very close. They spent every night by candlelight, talking late, and slept side by side.

Gradually, Pei Jing became more and more demanding.

He insisted she move into the Eastern Palace with him, forbade her from showing her true face, and, worst of all, ordered her to wear women's clothes and deliberately made an intimate show of them whispering together in front of her old friends.

Fu Guiyi felt tense and humiliated. She coldly tried to push him away, only for his arm to tighten around her waist.

With the moon high in the sky, she heard Pei Jing whisper in her ear as her consciousness grew hazy: "You're mine. How could I bear to let them recognize you?"

Tears welled in the corners of Fu Guiyi's eyes as she cursed Pei Jing for being shameless.

*

One day, her brother was found, and everything returned to its proper course.

Fu Guiyi used a trick to escape Pei Jing. Once she had resumed her life as a woman, she immediately became engaged.

On her wedding day, Pei Jing surrounded the entrance with several thousand men, intending to steal the bride.

His face dark, he glared at Fu Guiyi with a sinister look and aimed his longbow at the groom's head.

Fu Guiyi challenged him: "Your Highness, why are you making things difficult for my husband?"

The bowstring in Pei Jing's hand and the one in his head snapped at the same time. His eyes bloodshot, he repeated, "Your husband?"

Every word was soaked in tears and cut to the bone.

The two looked at each other from afar. Fu Guiyi smiled and invited him in for a cup of wedding wine.

She smiled sweetly, her gaze radiant, just as she had when they first met.

*

That year, heavy snow fell from the sky. Pei Jing stood alone by the railing atop a tall building and caught a fleeting glimpse of a breathtaking sight.

The hostages taking shelter from the snow beneath the palace eaves all wore gloomy expressions. Only one had bright, starry eyes, pearly teeth, and a flower-like smile.

The young man leaned halfway out, reaching to catch a falling snowflake.

Pei Jing's cold eyes shifted slightly. It seemed his heart melted along with the snowflake on the young man's fingertips.

He wanted to possess that smile alone, no matter what it took.

[Reading Guide]

1. The heroine's disguise is exposed from the start, and only the male lead knows.

2. Old-school forced romance plus a groveling pursuit. Happy ending, no change of male lead, both leads are each other's first. If this isn't your thing, please don't open it.

3. This is not a brainless sweet romance (very important). The heroine is not a foolish, delicate beauty. Read with caution!

4. Modern bonus chapters will be posted in the comments later. They won't be available on pirated sites. Thank you for supporting the official release!

A completed novel in the same genre: "Imprisoned in the Imperial Bedchamber"

[Main story complete. The forced romance begins in Chapter 21: sinister, lovesick Crown Prince x restrained, clever beauty]

Crown Prince Zhao Mingfei was deposed, so he naturally felt no affection for the wife forced on him as a substitute.

But Jiang Niantang admired him wholeheartedly. She secretly watched him practice swordsmanship, took care of everything in the cold palace for him, and stayed up late sewing clothes for him.

Whenever she looked at him, her limpid eyes reflected a sky full of stars.

Zhao Mingfei looked down on her inwardly, but said gently, "Our engagement doesn't count. You don't have to do all this."

The star-bright light in Jiang Niantang's eyes dimmed instantly.

Yet she was still willing to die alongside him.

Zhao Mingfei rewarded her fairly by teaching her to paint.

He lowered his eyes to look at his wife painting intently, and felt as though the tip of a brush had swept across his heart.

She liked painting him, and said she liked seeing him smile.

Until the night of his coronation as emperor, when she lay in his arms and called out another man's name.

Zhao Mingfei's gentle face instantly turned sinister and terrifying.

So the person she had been painting wasn't him.

And the way he smiled was the one thing about him that most resembled the man she loved.

In a dim prison cell, Zhao Mingfei pinned Jiang Niantang into a corner.

On the ground nearby, the man she loved, who had died and come back to life, now lay on the brink of death.

Jiang Niantang called him a madman, a demon.

Zhao Mingfei didn't care. He kissed her trembling, cold lips, his tone exceptionally calm.

"Can you tell the difference between him and me now?"

*

Jiang Niantang had always thought Zhao Mingfei was a noble, gracious gentleman.

Though deposed and imprisoned, he never wallowed in self-pity or resentment. He was considerate toward her and always knew how to behave.

Only later, when he trapped her beneath the hibiscus bed curtains and repeatedly seized her hands, did Jiang Niantang realize she had provoked a terrifying madman.

With cold fingertips, he brushed aside her damp hair and forced her to recount every little thing between her and the man she loved.

"Has he kissed you?"

"Can he make you cry like this?"

He swept a cold glance over her flushed face and tear-filled eyes, then gave a mocking smile.

"It seems your love for him isn't all that deep."

[Bonus Scene]

Jiang Niantang's beloved returned victorious, laden with military honors.

On the day the army entered the capital, the emperor and empress went up to the city gate to welcome them.

Jiang Niantang and the man she loved gazed at each other across the high wall, wanting to speak but unable to.

Zhao Mingfei watched coldly, then casually reached out to brush a stray lock of hair from beside his wife's ear.

He thought without changing expression that they had been childhood sweethearts, innocent and devoted to each other. If they'd married, they would surely have been the couple everyone envied.

But there are no what-ifs in this world.

She was already his wife. They would share a bed in life and the same grave in death. There was no other path.

Theme: Let go of the past and don't be trapped by your own heart.