Ballad of the Ling Waters

The truly heartless former dynasty princess vs. the seemingly cold rebel

A genuinely sweet romance disguised as an angst-filled novel

To Jiang Ling, the greatest misery in the world came down to two things: poverty and helplessness.

Poverty meant having nothing; helplessness meant having no say over your own fate.

Yet as the eldest princess of Great Yu, she suffered from both.

For Great Yu's sake, she spent twelve years as a hostage in the enemy kingdom of Shangjing. On her wedding night to Shangjing's eldest prince, Great Yu sent troops against Shangjing without a thought for her life.

She had planned to escape in the chaos, but by a twist of fate, she was taken back to Great Yu by Pei Lian, the Grand General Dian Yuan, personally appointed by her father, the emperor.

Who could have guessed that the general, who seemed as pure as jade, was a rebel?

When he charged into the imperial city on horseback, blade in hand, and hung the heads of her parents from the Hall of Celestial Extremity, she knew that Great Yu now belonged to Pei Lian.

She walked into Pei Lian's bedchamber with a dagger in hand.

Pei Lian sat carelessly on a glass couch, dressed in a loose black robe. His fingertips brushed her blade with lazy disdain. "Want to kill me and avenge your family?"

"Avenge them?"

Jiang Ling smiled, her gaze resolute. "Kill me, please."

He knew she was testing him, but Pei Lian still broke her dagger and forced her to live.

So Jiang Ling put her feelings and nature aside, pretending to go along with him as she waited for the day she could escape and roam freely across the world.

She never imagined that, just as she was about to escape her gilded cage, the man who had once stood above her would personally place that same dagger in her hand and press it to his heart.

He said, "Stay. You can decide whether I live or die."

Only then did she realize that love was more frightening than poverty in this world.

*

Pei Lian had met a woman.

Those around him all said she was the daughter of his enemy and had ulterior motives for staying by his side.

But how could he not know?

From the first moment he saw her, he had found every excuse he could to avoid seeing through her, and he couldn't bear to let her go.

Like an iron pestle ground into a needle, his devotion would never waver.

He could wait as long as it took.

Reading tips:

This story focuses on the male lead's long pursuit. The female lead knows what she wants and remains clearheaded and self-possessed. The romance develops slowly.

Both are virgins, one-on-one romance, with the relationship as the main focus.

The male lead did not kill the female lead's parents.

This is a fictional setting. Please don't nitpick historical details.

Theme: Hatred doesn't always have to end in a clash of blades.