Stealing the Beloved Princess

Everyone knew that Crown Prince Pei Heng was noble and virtuous, flawless as white jade, as if he were a god among men.

Only Yu Luan knew how he forced himself on her whenever they were alone.

Spring nights in the palace were long.

"Why are you crying?" Pei Heng gently kissed her brow and eyes, but his voice was as cold as frost. "Even now, Ah Luan, are you still thinking of someone else?"

Yu Luan came from a humble family.

Fortunately, a benefactor who had known her late father helped her, and after she came of age, she became engaged to the heir of Prince Liangding.

It should have been a happy occasion, but Yu Luan was persecuted by her elders, who wanted to force her to give up this excellent match in favor of her cousin.

With no other choice, Yu Luan fled home. Hounded by the household servants, she hid inside a carriage.

There, she met Pei Heng for the first time.

The young man had gentle features and the bearing of a crane among pines.

He set down the book in his hands and looked at her as she burst in uninvited.

Tears like pearls in her eyes, Yu Luan begged him for help.

The commotion outside the carriage grew louder. After a moment's thought, Pei Heng nodded.

He gestured to the seat beside him with the book in his hand.

"Come sit here."

Yu Luan had no way to repay him for saving her life, but she never forgot his kindness.

After a long journey, she finally reached Prince Liangding's residence and got to tell the heir what had happened. To her surprise, she also found her benefactor, Pei Heng, there.

Only then did she learn that this man, who seemed like an immortal descended from the heavens, was the Crown Prince.

Yu Luan's heart raced.

She thought everything had finally been settled, but Prince Liangding cruelly separated the lovers and sent Yu Luan to the bed of a powerful noble.

When she opened her eyes, she saw the benefactor who had saved her from danger time and again, a man of exalted status.

But this time, he silenced her pleas with his lips.

Pei Heng held her slender waist as their breaths mingled and their bodies pressed close. Only then did he realize that everything he had dreamed of had come true.

*

At first, Yu Luan truly believed Prince Liangding had rejected her because her status was too low for her to enter his household.

Later, she learned that the person who had set everything in motion was none other than the radiant and virtuous Crown Prince.

The moment she learned the truth, the world went dark.

On the day of the palace coup, while Pei Heng was too occupied to keep watch, Yu Luan escaped.

But as soon as she stepped out of the secret passage, she saw a bloodstained robe. Its owner was the young and handsome new emperor.

"I haven't yet repaid you for saving my life, and already you want to run away, Ah Luan?" Pei Heng embraced her from behind and laid a hand on her belly, his voice growing ever lower. "Where do you think you're going with my child?"

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