The Priestess Has Her Eye on Me

The main story is complete, and chapter comments are now open. The modern AU bonus story, "A Heart That Has Always Been Yours," is currently updating. (I accidentally set one chapter to paid-only, so I'll make it up to you with another free bonus chapter. Sorry!) Weibo: @Wuyu Zile #A poised, sharp-witted, secretly scheming beauty of a princess x a cool, reserved, beautiful and tragic priest Who in their right mind would have a throne to inherit and still be unable to return home?! Ye Chenwan was the beloved only daughter of Prince Ning of the northern lands. Unfortunately, an imperial decree named her Princess Zhaoping and sent her to the capital to study at the Imperial Academy alongside the children of the nobility, beginning her life as a political hostage. Three years passed, then another three. She did everything right, stayed within the law, kept a low profile, and acted harmlessly. She nearly believed her own performance, but the emperor still showed no sign of letting her return home. Just as a desperate letter from the north made her as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, the priest, who had never concerned herself with politics, suddenly appeared before her and offered an alliance. Could there really be such a thing as a free lunch? Could it be because of their childhood affection? But the deepest bond between her and the priest was that they'd been classmates at the Imperial Academy five years ago. How could someone she hadn't spoken to in five years still be hung up on their old friendship? As she struck a bargain, the white-robed young woman rested one hand on her shoulder, her gaze inscrutable. "Princess, is this truly all you seek? The magnificent realm stretching ten thousand miles was meant to be yours. Does that not stir your heart in the slightest?" "You could ask for so much more." By the capital of Molin, in Chengyou Year Fifteen, the winds of change were already rising. She believed she could stay untouched by the turmoil, unaware that a prophecy from ten years ago had already made her a player in this game. Along the glorious, blood-soaked road to supreme power, glory stretched ahead, and bones piled up behind. How fortunate that she had someone walking beside her. There are parasol trees in the south. Why has the phoenix not yet arrived? P.S. The character illustrations for the protagonists are all drawn by me, just for fun. If you think my drawings are ugly or don't match the characters, please use your own imagination instead. I'm not a professional artist, and the illustrations are just doodles, so please don't expect too much of my drawing skills. Full illustrations of both protagonists have been posted on Weibo. 1. Both leads are strong, both are devoted to each other, and this is a female-led story. 2. The romance is slow-burn. The protagonists are both focused on their careers. 3. The point of view is marked as unspecified because it shifts according to the plot, without a deliberate focus on either lead. 4. No common trigger points. The protagonists don't get involved with men or become entangled with them. 5. The men who appear are cannon fodder, villains, or walk-on characters. There are relatively more male villains early on, but they all die as the story progresses. 6. There is no cross-dressing as a man anywhere in the story. My new novel, Becoming the White Moonlight's Cinnabar Mote, is now serializing. A possessive white moonlight with extraordinary acting skills x a cold black lotus born with a sickly constitution Unwilling to become a pawn in a political marriage and waste her life behind the palace's deep walls, Murong Heng carefully chose Chuji to become her co-conspirator in pursuing her ambitions. Even she never expected that this princess, who seemed gentle and easy to control, would be the most dangerous one of all. When Murong Heng became chancellor as a woman, she faced questioning from the court and rumors flying in every direction. The rumors claimed she was the new emperor's beloved lover. And it wasn't entirely a rumor. Beneath the palace lamps flickering in the deep of night, as their breaths mingled, the new emperor's face was right before her. She smiled flawlessly. "A-Heng, if you run into trouble, you can rely on me." She said helplessly, "A-Heng, you never used to look at me this way. Have I done something to make you dislike me?" Then understanding dawned on her face, and in an instant she transformed into a gentle, deeply affectionate beauty, radiant as the moon. "Does my elder sister prefer the way I used to be? If that's what you like, I can play that part." Murong Heng had once hated the cruelty of fate and the countless ways it had treated her unfairly. She hated that the cold toxin she'd been born with had left her bedridden. She hated that her brother was mediocre yet had everything. She hated that fate had never shown her compassion, giving her hope only to cruelly shatter it. If Heaven would not show her mercy, she would take what she wanted herself. Chuji was just like her name. She had inherited her mother's peerless beauty and possessed a graceful, noble bearing. Many people thought that, with the old emperor's boundless nostalgia for his beloved concubine who had died young, she could live a comfortable and carefree life as a princess. She was gentle and harmless, a perfect pawn, handpicked by Murong Heng. Unfortunately, it wasn't until the pawn sat before the chessboard that she realized she'd never truly seen the eyes behind that serene, moonlit face. "I beg you, Your Highness, have mercy on me." One sentence became an obsession. The mountains remain beneath the clear sky; in a hundred years, even Nanshan will crumble. Theme: After countless trials, we remain as we were.