The Painter

[Prideful, Theatrical, Stubborn Divine Painter Who Hates to Lose Face x Black-Bellied-But-Innocent Prince Who Gets No Love from His Father or Sister]

The novel next door, The Bad Bride, is now available. Please check it out!

[Clear-Eyed, Cunning Avenger x Aloof Beauty Who Has Died Once and Still Hasn't Learned Her Lesson]

Blurb:

No one ever thought that Wang Xiyun, a divine painter, would one day be thrown in prison.

After all, divine painters create portraits of the gods and are revered wherever they go.

The dynasty changes, and a new ruler takes the throne. The late emperor was timid but kindhearted, and never imagined that the child he raised with his own hands would bare his fangs and force him to his death.

The new emperor needs a divine painter to pray for blessings at his coronation, symbolizing that the throne is Heaven's will. But Wang Xiyun owes a debt of gratitude to the late emperor and despises the new ruler for his ingratitude.

She is dragged into the dungeon and tortured. As she lies dying, she discovers that she has a little more backbone than she thought.

When she opens her eyes again, she is back two years before the rebel army attacks the city. The immortals she paints seem to come to life, and every wish she makes comes true.

After several encounters, she finds herself rather fond of Shi Yu, a sincere young man whom his father neglects.

But before she can tell him how she feels, he is on the brink of death after saving her.

She spends half her life kneeling and begging the Goddess Xihe, the deity who governs the passage of time, whom she painted.

But the one she calls back is Shi Yu from the day the city falls two years later, the one who dies in battle with his spear in hand and never falls.

-

Shi Yu has never understood why his father dotes more on an ambitious outsider than on his own flesh and blood.

As a boy, he questions, pleads, and complains, only to push his father's love and affection further and further away.

Later, he is sent away from the capital. When he hears of the upheaval at court, he rushes back from thousands of miles away and dies fighting for the Shi family's empire. Yet he feels light and relieved.

--Now he owes neither his birth father nor the one who raised him anything.

He becomes a restless ghost, but one day a little painter summons him back to two years earlier.

This time, he gives up on the so-called bonds of blood and takes up his spear once more, for one person alone.

-

Shi Yu notices Wang Xiyun secretly stealing glances at him, but whenever he tries to show her kindness, she pulls away.

He assumes she's just a shy young woman, and that a little reserve is only natural.

But later, Shi Yu realizes something is wrong. She is clearly looking through him at someone else.

After learning the truth, he feels terribly wronged. Drunk, he rests his head on her knees and murmurs again and again:

"I'm him. Can't you give me just a little bit of your affection?"

*

1. Set in a fictional world. The female lead is reborn with a golden finger: the portraits she paints can grant wishes.

2. Neither lead is perfect.

3. Both leads have no previous partners, one-on-one romance, happy ending.

Theme: The self-reliant prevail, and those who overcome themselves are strong.