At the wedding, the Crown Prince, whom Nan Sangning had admired for most of her life, said, "Be sensible. I'll be right back."
With that, he rode off at full speed to see the woman he had always loved.
Before the ceremony was complete, Nan Sangning, heartbroken, called off the marriage.
The Crown Prince blamed her for being unreasonable. "How can you hope to be Crown Princess if you begrudge a gravely ill person?"
That night, Nan Sangning left the Crown Prince's palace without looking back and stepped into the torrential rain. She returned to a place she had not set foot in for a long time. "I want to be a princess consort."
"Have you made up your mind?" Prince Jin, Li Zheng, lazily lifted his eyes. His phoenix eyes were deep and unreadable. "If you go back on your word, you'll be struck by lightning."
A flash of cold light streaked overhead. Nan Sangning met the gaze of the Crown Prince's uncle, Prince Jin, his rival for the throne, with her tear-filled doe eyes and nodded.
-
After the wedding, Nan Sangning played the part of a dutiful tool, never once crossing the line.
Yet Li Zheng smiled, his eyes brimming with shards of ice. "You haven't even tried your husband, and you already want to burn your bridges? You'll get struck by lightning for that, too."
Their tent was filled with breathless cries all night!
On the day of the hunt, Nan Sangning nearly fell from her horse. She ignored the Crown Prince as he rushed toward her with concern and curled up in Li Zheng's arms. "Uncle, it hurts."
The Crown Prince coughed up old blood and burned with fever for three days and nights. He dragged his sickly body to see Nan Sangning, only to glimpse two figures entwined like vines behind a screen.
Li Zheng coaxed whimpers from her and flaunted his triumph. "Be good, Ningning. Call me husband again."
Bang!
Nan Sangning: What just fell behind the screen?
Li Zheng: Never mind him!
-
Li Zheng had crossed seas of blood and mountains of corpses. He was a ruthless killer whose name struck terror into all who heard it! When word spread that he had married, and that his bride was the very woman who had almost completed a wedding ceremony with the Crown Prince, the whole capital erupted in shock.
Everyone said he was using Nan Sangning to fight the Crown Prince for the dragon throne.
But then he casually tossed his military tally onto the floor of the Golden Phoenix Hall, terrifying the ministers into begging him to take back his resignation.
His eyes softened with a tenderness no one had ever seen before. "She doesn't like me fighting and killing..."
The ministers: At least you're honest about yourself!
Wait, no! It's far too early for you to retire!
[Reading Notes]
A delicate young woman x a gentle, unhinged older man
Note:
1. Eight-year age gap
Blurb dated 2023.10.26
Theme: If you love someone, stand by their side and build a home together.
