[Beautiful, powerful, and tragic Taishi Manor heiress Vs. devoted romantic Hou Manor heir]
Chu Zhaoran was the apple of Taishi Manor's eye, beloved by the emperor and doted on by the empress dowager. The moment she was born, she was betrothed to Shen Yunqi, the most favored legitimate son of a marquis's household.
It should have been a match made in heaven, but fate took a sudden turn.
When Chu Zhaoran was five, she fell from a horse and was injured, then abducted. Thirteen years passed, and she had become a renowned courtesan in Luzhou.
By a twist of fate, she met Shen Yunqi again.
The young man was handsome and graceful, so strikingly good-looking that she deliberately approached and flirted with him, leading Shen Yunqi to spend a fortune on her.
They spent night after night singing and reveling on a painted pleasure boat, living as if they were immortals.
But their happy days did not last. A great fire burned everything to ashes.
*
Shen Yunqi had always known he had a future wife. When he was young, he heard that she had been injured and had no choice but to leave the capital to recuperate. He even sent people with gifts to visit her, but they were turned away at the door.
Thirteen years passed in the blink of an eye. The marquis's household was preparing their wedding, but on the eve of the formal proposal, he ran away.
He ran to Luzhou, where he met a woman and willingly bowed before her.
He had thought their days would go on like that forever, until the fire burned everything away, leaving not even a body behind.
Guards from the marquis's household found him and brought him back to the capital, where he married Chu Zhaoran.
On their wedding night, he lifted her veil and froze.
The face he had seen night after night was once again before him. For a moment, he was dazed. "Who are you?"
Chu Zhaoran smiled faintly. "You married me, yet you don't know who I am, husband? Could it be that your heart still belongs to someone else?"
*
Shen Yunqi thought the two of them would continue to treat each other with courtesy and respect. But one night, after drinking a cup of wine, he woke the next morning with a dull ache in his lower back and abdomen. He knew that feeling all too well.
Especially when he saw Chu Zhaoran sitting at the dressing table, smiling at him, he raised a trembling hand. "You... What did you do to me?"
"Shh, husband, don't be so formal. Anything we do as husband and wife is only natural."
*
Shen Yunqi thought all well-bred young ladies were gentle and reserved, but Chu Zhaoran was nothing of the sort.
At last, he woke in the middle of the night and saw what the person on top of him was doing. His eyes widened in terror.
Chu Zhaoran's movements were far too practiced, yet his body was responding to her all the same.
Mortified, he grabbed her wandering hand. "You... shameless!"
In response, she took him even more passionately.
Shen Yunqi was in agony. He hated himself for being unable to resist her temptation, and berated himself for failing to remain faithful to the one he had loved before.
[Reader's Guide]
1. One-on-one romance, both leads are pure.
2. The heroine is a shameless glutton.
3. Set in an imaginary dynasty, with plenty of authorial worldbuilding.
4. More to come if I think of anything.
Theme: Be independent and strong even in adversity.
