[Coming Soon: My Cunning Cousin] [My Husband Betrays Me] Please add them to your collection!
Everyone knew that Princess Ruyang had a loyal guard, assigned to her by Emperor Mingde when she was eight years old.
The guard, Ye Zhu, was handsome and highly skilled in martial arts. Many noble young ladies in the capital secretly admired him, yet he stayed by Ruyang's side alone.
When the young Princess Ruyang fell for someone, she pursued the Chancellor's son, and Ye Zhu abducted him for her.
Unfortunately, the Chancellor's son was displeased. The princess flew into a rage and treated her guard coldly.
When the kingdom fell, the palace servants around the princess scattered. Only Ye Zhu carefully carried her out of the chaos.
It was only when the former court officials saw the rebels afraid to go anywhere near the princess that they realized Ye Zhu was none other than Prince Chu, the new emperor's own younger brother. He had spent years undercover for this very day.
The princess's former kin and sisters whispered that Ruyang was blessed indeed, with such a history between her and Prince Chu. Her future was sure to be glorious.
What they did not know was that Ruyang had never given a thought to becoming Prince Chu's consort. Once she had recovered, she accepted the new emperor's title of Commandery Princess and established her own household.
In secret, she plotted to restore her kingdom.
Considering how often Ye Zhu had been turned away, Ruyang thought magnanimously that when she reclaimed her throne, she could grant him a high-ranking title.
But the position of imperial consort could only go to the Chancellor's son, the man she loved.
For years, Ye Zhu remained by her side, just as he always had.
Ruyang had always thought it would last forever.
But at the grand banquet attended by the rulers of a dozen nations, Ruyang watched a princess from Nanyue, a newly conquered territory of Prince Chu, step out of a carriage bearing the insignia of his estate.
Stunned at the palace banquet in early autumn, Ruyang knocked over a cup of wine from years past.
*
A princess cannot stand to see what belongs to her taken by someone else, be it her kingdom or Ye Zhu.
When she reunited with Ye Zhu, she coaxed him patiently. "Since you can serve your brother, why not give me your loyalty? I will restore the kingdom in my name as a princess of the former dynasty, and give you a rightful place as my imperial consort."
"From this day forward, the emperors who rule for generations will be born of our shared bloodline."
Ruyang thought she was tempting him with power. She never knew that the man had been patiently scheming all along for the bright, lovely little princess he had first met in the eighth year of Emperor Mingde's reign.
#Mad Princess Restoring Her Kingdom x Loyal Courtier at Her Feet#
-- Coming Soon: My Cunning Cousin --
Yin Huaxin was a young lady staying with her cousin's family at the Duke of Tang's estate. She was beautiful and exceptionally talented, yet every young woman in the capital disliked her.
There was only one reason: this young lady was far too cunning.
Whenever a young woman got close to her cousin, the heir to the dukedom and the most eligible bachelor in the capital, Yin Huaxin would make a scene and use every trick in the book to stop her.
Even when caught, she insisted that she had no romantic feelings for her cousin at all. She was only trying to make sure he focused on his studies.
And yet Yin Huaxin really did keep her distance from the heir, while making sure not to let a single other handsome young man slip past her.
The third son of the Ming family, the ninth son of the Nian family, the young uncle of the Yan family, and even the valiant Princess Xingyang all fell within her sights.
At every palace banquet and gathering, young men would fight and brawl out of jealousy over her.
The young women of the capital plotted to teach Yin Huaxin a lesson. But she gracefully withdrew from the fray, then turned around and became engaged to her cousin, the heir who had just placed first in the palace examinations.
Only then did everyone, after being led on, realize that the cunning cousin had never given up on her own cousin. She had merely been making a grand show of her admirers to raise her own worth and catch his attention.
*
Inside the Duke's estate.
Yin Huaxin bit her handkerchief, her eyes red as she sobbed, "Cousin, you have to believe me. Everyone out there says that I got along so well with Brother Ming, Little Brother Nian, Uncle Yan, and Her Highness Xingyang only to get your attention."
Li Qianyuan was unmoved. He held the little lady who was full of lies and smiled seductively. "I don't believe you."
Theme: Strive with courage and keep moving forward.
