The Scheming Cousin's Rise to Power

The Alluring Beauty Who Runs After Flirting, and the Aloof Aristocrat Who Goes Mad for Love [Complete]

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When Chu Xun first met Ruan Zhen, it was in the room of the Duke's elderly matriarch. At the time, she wore a plain hairpin and simple clothes, her frail figure seeming as if a gust of wind might knock her over. When she called him Cousin, she was so timid she didn't even dare lift her head. She was utterly lacking in poise.

Afterward, he would occasionally hear stories about Ruan Zhen. Someone had bullied her, or someone had wronged her, yet she never dared fight back. Chu Xun hated her for not standing up for herself. He sometimes stepped in to help, but more often he watched coldly from the sidelines.

On the Lantern Festival, the Duke's family went aboard a painted pleasure boat to admire the Qinhuai River at night. Unexpectedly, someone pushed Ruan Zhen into the river. Just as Chu Xun saw a lecher jump in and swim toward her, his brow furrowed tighter and tighter. In the end, he jumped in first and rescued her.

Since they had shared intimate contact, there was no avoiding a marriage. Yet Chu Xun showed no joy. As he lifted the bridal veil, he told his bride, "Our marriage is merely a matter of expedience. I have no romantic feelings for you. We'll be husband and wife in name only. After a few years, when this has all blown over, we'll divorce, and then you can marry whoever you like."

Ruan Zhen did not answer. She simply let a tear silently roll from the corner of her eye, looking utterly pitiful. But once Chu Xun turned his back, the corners of her lips immediately curled into a lovely smile.

Divorce? Impossible.

To reach you, I planned countless scenarios for every encounter, and practiced each smile hundreds of times in front of a bronze mirror. I went to all this trouble for a reason. I won't settle for being a nominal wife to the heir.

I will enter your heart. I will become the mistress of the Duke's household. I will make everyone who once looked down on me bow their heads before me.

.

At first, when Chu Xun realized Ruan Zhen was in love with him, he found it deeply irritating. But he pitied her lonely circumstances and didn't want to hurt her, so he avoided her at every turn.

She didn't seem very bright, though. She failed to notice his aversion and kept appearing before him, always letting him see how besotted she was.

It made him feel immensely pressured.

Later, when Ruan Zhen fell into the water, he rescued her. He married her only because circumstances forced his hand, and told her then that they would divorce once things had died down in a few years.

She was heartbroken, but agreed.

From then on, they were husband and wife in public, but cousins in private. Still, she couldn't help revealing her feelings for him.

By then, Chu Xun was used to it and no longer found it particularly uncomfortable.

Later still, when the emperor planned to grant him a second wife, Chu Xun feared the woman would be hurt and did everything he could to refuse, even angering the emperor in the process.

But when he returned home, the woman presented him with divorce papers of her own accord.

Ever since he had known her, she had clung to him relentlessly. Why was she giving up so easily now?

The woman wept as she said, "Cousin has been so kind to me. How could I bear to let you be reprimanded by His Majesty because of me?"

With that, she tossed down the divorce papers and wept as she left the Duke's residence.

His heart throbbed dully. After a long moment, he chased after her, only to catch her being all lovey-dovey with the Crown Prince.

The man asked her, "You've been in love with him for years. Won't you miss him?"

Her answer was so cutting he could hardly believe it was her. "He's like a cold jade stone that will never warm up. How could I love him?"

"I went to such lengths to marry him before, but it was only for his power and status. Now that I have Your Highness, why would I miss him?"

Chu Xun said nothing then. He even managed to smile.

It wasn't long before the Crown Prince was sent to the border to fight.

And the Crown Prince's newly betrothed mysteriously fell to her death from a cliff. Everyone said the Crown Princess, without any powerful backing, had become a casualty of the princes' struggle for power.

Meanwhile, in a residence in Sweetwater Alley in Jinling, someone was forced to endure a man's fury night after night, until dawn.

#You can't just run away after seducing someone. Nothing in this world comes that easily!#

#Ran away? No matter. I'll just take you back!#

Both leads are each other's first and only partners. One-on-one romance.

Marriage first, love later in the early part; forced possession in the middle; the male lead pursues his wife through a crematorium in the end.

Synopsis written on March 15, 2024. Screenshot saved.

My next novel, Springtime Plunder, is now open for follows. Please add it to your library, thank you!

Li Ruoshui is from the south. In his view, women should be as delicate as orchids or as proud and aloof as plum blossoms to be suitable wives and homemakers.

But Chizhen is an exception. She is as passionate as a rose, beautiful and bewitching.

The first time they met, she told him she fancied him.

Not long afterward, she went so far as to abduct him, put her hands all over him, and nearly...

Later, she had no boundaries whatsoever, flirting with him again and again until his heart burned with desire.

He truly couldn't understand why a perfectly good princess would be so shameless.

Yet strangely, he grew more and more accustomed to her teasing. He never expected that, alone at night, unable to sleep in his empty bed, he would wet his undergarments because of her.

At the time, he thought that since she admired him so much, and he had feelings for her too, he might as well give in to her.

But fate played a cruel joke on him. It had all been a lie. She had only ever treated him as a substitute, and had never loved him.

That was bad enough. He accepted his defeat because he had fallen for her.

But how could she, how dare she, stir his heart and then calmly promise herself to someone else?

He would not allow it. Absolutely not.

And so, the aloof aristocrat fell from his pedestal. He turned into the ruthless Ninth Prince of an enemy kingdom, and the first thing he did after reclaiming his royal lineage was arrange a political marriage with the Liao Kingdom.

When he lifted the bridal veil, she saw a man with a sinister gaze, holding a small gold-trimmed riding crop and staring at her like a predator.

The beautiful young woman went pale with fright. "Li Ruoshui, what are you going to do? Don't you dare!"

Li Ruoshui leaned over her and used the handle of the crop to raise her chin. His gaze fell on her neckline, then lower still. His voice was husky as he said, "What am I going to do? Collect what I'm owed! You'll never be able to repay the debt of love you owe me."

From then on, someone endured a man's fury night after night, until dawn.

Theme: Perseverance in the face of adversity.