Fake relationship becomes real / The fruit forced on the vine is sweet / Star addiction / The widow
[Delicate, solitary beauty x sinister general entrusted with an orphan]
In the thirteenth year of the Chun era, the Great Xia army won a bloody victory outside Changting, suffering heavy casualties.
The frontier general Jiang Zhi, clad in black armor and soaked in blood, defied the imperial decree and personally escorted his elder brother's coffin home.
He kept watch for seven days.
Known as a deadly general, he had servants throughout the household too frightened to attend him, let alone urge him to leave.
Until late at night, soft footsteps sounded outside the mourning hall.
A faint fragrance of begonias in spring came with them.
The young woman wore plain white mourning clothes, her eyes swollen from crying. She called out "Brother" again and again before the coffin, her voice trembling softly like a begonia petal that might crumble at a touch.
The next day, at court, Jiang Zhi narrowed his eyes slightly and stepped forward. "Your Majesty, I fell in love at first sight with Marshal Wei's younger sister. If Your Majesty grants us permission to marry, I will cherish her dearly."
At his words, the entire court fell silent.
After a long pause, the eunuch glanced toward the throne, his voice growing sharper with urgency. "General, you've been away from court for a long time, so perhaps you don't know... Marshal Wei has no younger sister. The young woman in the mourning hall, she, she, she is Marshal Wei's fiancée!"
*
Everyone knew that Jiang Zhi had been made a marquis in his youth, had won countless battles, and was the most dazzling general in Great Xia.
But no one knew he was born different, with desires that surged day and night without rest. Only a blood-soaked battlefield and the taking of lives could barely suppress his violent madness.
It wasn't until he held her in his arms and stroked her slender, trembling back that he realized the urges that rose within him from time to time could be soothed by something other than killing.
"Sister-in-law."
Jiang Zhi lowered his eyes to the hand clutching his sleeve, taking in the panic in her tear-filled eyes.
Su Chanyi was baffled by his gaze and instinctively stepped back half a pace, only for him to hook an arm around her waist and pull her back.
His fingertips had originally been wiping away her tears, but they began to wander lower as if addicted. A gentle stroke along her lips cut off the plea she had yet to speak.
"I've taught you so many times, Sister-in-law, and you still haven't learned." Jiang Zhi lowered his voice and coaxed her patiently. "How should you beg?"
*Loving someone is like tending a flower. The heroine will grow, and the hero is sick in the head.
*Every setting and plot point is just for indulging my tastes. Please don't take it as a statement of values.
Theme: A pampered young lady and her dog
