The Substitute Bride's Daily Life

-- My historical romance, When an Older Brother Becomes a Husband, is now underway. The blurb is below. --

[Marriage First, Love Later / Slice of Life] (80% anti-piracy protection, 72-hour delay)

Jiang Xueying lost her mother when she was young and was bullied by others in the household. She never fought back or competed for anything, asking only to keep her young brother safe and sound for his whole life.

But then an imperial edict forced Jiang Xueying to marry in another woman's place, to the notoriously cruel Prince of Yan.

Shen Changce, Prince of Yan, inherited his father's title. He is the only prince with a different surname in the current court, commands a powerful army, and has won countless battles. His immense power makes everyone in the imperial court fear him.

But the powerful Prince of Yan is arrogant and, by all accounts, vicious and merciless. He's known as the "Living Yama." Even on the battlefield, where his reputation is limited, he has been condemned for treating prisoners too harshly.

The emperor arranged the marriage, and it wasn't the prince's wish.

No one knew what sort of life Jiang Xueying would face after marrying him.

After the wedding, Jiang Xueying carefully kept up the appearance of being a substitute bride. She asked for neither wealth nor favor, only hoping to live in peace with Prince Yan.

She thought that one day she would finally be free, and hoped the prince would meet a woman he loved and grant her a divorce.

But one day, as she awoke from a dream, the Prince of Yan's sinister voice suddenly sounded beside her ear. "Who is Jing'an? Since when have you been secretly meeting someone else, Princess?"

Jiang Xueying was about to explain, but in the next instant, he sealed her lips with a kiss. Only a few incoherent sounds escaped her.

Who was Jing'an? Jing'an was her little brother!

Things seemed to have taken a different turn. They weren't going the way Jiang Xueying had expected.

-- When an Older Brother Becomes a Husband is complete and ready to read --

Shen Wanying had an older brother.

They weren't related by blood, but he had been by her side since childhood.

For more than ten years, she had called him "big brother." Everyone in the city knew that the young lady of the Hou family always had a young man by her side, inseparable from her.

Then an imperial decree of marriage turned her brother into her husband.

He told her, "We can't disobey the emperor's decree. Let's go along with it for now. When things have died down, we'll find a reason to divorce."

She believed him. They'd been together since childhood, after all. This was just a change in name. Surely their lives wouldn't be too different.

But as time passed after the wedding, she began to sense something was wrong.

Until one day, she rose onto her tiptoes and gave her brother a light kiss on the cheek, just as she used to, playful and affectionate, like a sister teasing her brother.

But her brother's gaze seemed to have changed.

*

Later, in the bedchamber, Shen Wanying was kissed until she could barely breathe. Trembling, she called out, "Brother... aren't we siblings?"

He brushed the moisture at the corner of her lips with his fingertip, his voice low and husky. "Isn't it a little late to ask that now, Wanying?"

"But you said we were only pretending..."

Xie Wuling gripped her wrist and pressed it into the layers of brocade bedding, planting close, lingering kisses along the side of her neck. "I've said so many things. How come that's the only one you remember?"

Shen Wanying lifted her little face. Her eyes were misty, her fingertips trembling, and all she could hear was his voice:

"Be good, Wanying. Call me your husband."

I was the one who asked for the imperial decree. I never planned to be only your brother.

Theme: Love life