Reborn to Win the Emperor's Heart

New novel, The Difficult Stepmother, please add it to your collection! Here is the blurb:

[Young Stepmother Taken by Force x Taciturn Stepson with a Warm Heart]

Li Yanqing could not understand why his father had once again seized a woman from the countryside.

She was illiterate and knew nothing of noble-household etiquette. Always timid and meek, she kept her head down and let others tell her what to do.

Li Yanqing hated the way Xu Zhihe meekly obeyed every order. He hated even more that his father had pinned the only keepsake his mother left behind in her hair.

He secretly followed Xu Zhihe, drawing near and acting friendly.

She was an ignorant country girl, he thought. She would be easy to fool.

Until he had a copy made and pretended to pluck a flower caught in Xu Zhihe's hair.

Xu Zhihe suddenly pressed a hand to the hairpin and stepped back.

She looked at him warily, pleadingly, her eyes growing wet and blurry.

Xu Zhihe's voice trembled as it wound its way into his heart. "Yanqing... If I lose the hairpin, your father will beat me to death."

So Xu Zhihe had seen right through him all along.

**

Taken from the countryside to the Marquis's estate by General Li, Xu Zhihe should have been pitied. Instead, everyone resented her for supposedly rising from a low-born girl to a noblewoman.

In that wolf's den of a household, everyone wanted her dead. Forced to sign a contract of servitude and living with her life on the line, Xu Zhihe nearly gave up.

The hardest person to deal with was her "stepson," two years older than her, who was always watching from the shadows, as if he wanted to tear her apart and devour her.

On nights when he followed her, she hung her lantern from a branch to light his way.

In the first chill of winter, she simmered a tender lamb stew to warm him.

On his birthday, she made him a pair of warm, thick-soled shoes and offered him her heartfelt congratulations.

Xu Zhihe had never meant to take the place of Li Yanqing's late mother. She tried her best to make amends, treating him with kindness and warmth. Seeing the tension slowly leave Li Yanqing's mouth, she thought he had finally accepted her.

Until one night, Li Yanqing suddenly barged into her bedroom and searched her waist. Xu Zhihe was both embarrassed and furious. For the first time, she slapped him in anger.

Her fingertips went numb. Xu Zhihe regretted slapping Li Yanqing as soon as she had done it.

She braced herself for his temper, but never expected him to simply turn and leave.

So Li Yanqing had been hiding his true feelings behind his words.

**

Xu Zhihe's face was swollen from her father-in-law's slap.

A strangling mark appeared on her neck.

She nearly became a concubine, only to be demoted to a servant.

Xu Zhihe stubbornly survived.

Li Yanqing found himself admiring her a little.

And yet Xu Zhihe poured away the soup he had poisoned for his father.

Xu Zhihe: "If the old madam or the Marquis's household discovers it, you'll die. Yanqing, the only way to keep this secret buried forever is to stop now."

"Hah..."

In truth, Xu Zhihe should not have been allowed to live after guessing his true origins.

Li Yanqing glanced at the shoes on his feet.

But when he spoke, he said, "Xu Zhihe, after he dies, would you be willing to leave with me?"

Here is the blurb for this novel:

Black-hearted Princess x Tragic, Beautiful Prince

Xia Shiyin was the most coveted prize of a chaotic age.

As Zhou Lou trampled her dignity to claim the throne, Chu Mingji slaughtered her homeland across the river.

Two ambitious rulers used her as a pawn, turning the land into a blood-red bridal veil.

Reborn into the days when she was still waiting to be married,

she touched her elder brother's body, not yet cold, and clutched her mother's bloodstained phoenix hairpin.

This time, she would tear fate apart with her own hands.

Zhou Lou wanted to use her to steal the kingdom? Then she would cut off his escape route first.

She would play along, helping him reach the pinnacle of his life.

Once he finally sat upon the throne of his dreams, Xia Shiyin would kill him with a single sword strike and smile sweetly. "Zhou Lou, close your eyes."

Chu Mingji wanted an ally to usurp the throne? Then she would reach out when he was at his most desperate.

Leaning in to whisper, she played the gentle woman. "If I help you seize the throne, will you make a pact with me?"

A charming beauty, skirts fluttering, moved between two mighty rulers.

Every smile and frown seemed innocent and devoted.

Only when she led the Chu army and breached the gates of Zhou did they see the truth beneath her delicate, sweet face.

By then, it was too late.

Xia Shiyin brushed the still-wet blood from Zhou's golden seal, then sneered at the men who had underestimated her.

Now she had claimed the land. Looking down from the city walls, she would make the whole realm remember:

Women, too, can slay dragons and seize the throne.

Theme: Start anew in adversity. Stay calm, never give up, and commit wholeheartedly. Nothing is impossible.