The Unlucky Supporting Actress Turns Out to Be Me

*Older man x a young heiress who's a little cunning, but not much x an aloof gentleman who's finally caught fire

Xie Mingluan was born into the Langya Xie family. Her father held the highest office of Grand Secretary, and she was the most doted-on daughter in the family. If all went according to plan, she would marry the Crown Prince at sixteen and become mistress of the Eastern Palace.

But on the eve of her fifteenth birthday, Xie Mingluan fell into the water while saving the Crown Prince's cousin. She remained unconscious for half a month, during which she dreamed that she was actually the ill-fated villainess in a romance story.

The man she loved, the Crown Prince of the Da Ye dynasty, would ascend the throne, destroy her family, and then offer the empire as a betrothal gift to make his cousin empress.

Xie Mingluan had no idea how things could possibly turn out that way. Then she accidentally discovered that whenever she made physical contact with Pei Heng, Pei Ji'an's uncle, she could learn more through her dreams. Pei Heng was none other than the Prince of Yan, a man reputed to have won great honors and to be cruel and tyrannical.

To avoid the tragic fate of her family being destroyed, Xie Mingluan began plotting ways to make physical contact with Pei Heng, hoping to derail the story's destined course.

But why couldn't she repeat the same kind of physical contact twice?

And Pei Heng himself seemed to be an incorruptible gentleman.

When Xie Mingluan pretended to stumble, he remained unmoved and calmly stepped aside. When she was about to fall from her horse right in front of him, he turned and walked away without a second thought. When she twisted her ankle and asked him to help her, he said he had nothing to do anyway, so he might as well sit there.

Xie Mingluan was so furious she could have wept and wailed: What's wrong with letting me touch you once, huh?

*

Pei Heng had a vague sense of what the little Crown Princess was up to.

She was entirely devoted to his dear nephew, but the Crown Prince of Da Ye didn't have much interest in romance. So she kept trying to flirt with Pei Heng, hoping to make the Crown Prince jealous and teach him to cherish the person right in front of him.

But Pei Heng had no intention of indulging her, let alone playing along or letting himself be used.

Until Xie Mingluan came to the prince's residence to plead for her elder sister's marriage, and stood with an umbrella in his other courtyard until midnight. A torrential storm poured down that night, while Pei Heng sat in his room, burning as if he were in a blazing fire.

He knew that if he remained unmoved as before this time, he could finally be rid of this nuisance. But the storm raged, stirring his heart.

Reading guide:

An entirely fictional setting.

Older man, eight-year age gap.

This blurb will do for now. I'll revise it later.

Theme: Be clever and brave, and be yourself