I Won't Be Anyone's White Moonlight

The Liu family had fallen into decline. To secure the favor of Prince Qi, they forced Liu Wanning to marry in place of their youngest daughter, who was the one originally promised to him.

On her wedding night, Liu Wanning clutched a pearl hairpin, trembling with fear. A bitter wind swept through, carrying the scent of blood.

When someone lifted her red veil, the man before her was not Prince Qi, but his son, Pei Zhaoye.

The hairpin cut into the man's bony hand. He licked the hot blood from his fingers, his eyes bloodshot as he rubbed Liu Wanning's shoulder blade.

"Prince Qi is dead! You have two choices: let the Liu family be buried with you, or become my secret mistress, hidden from the world!"

In the thirteenth year of the Mingxuan era, blood ran through the imperial palace. Pei Zhaoye held the imperial sword and sat on the Dragon Throne, calmly issuing his decree.

"The Liu woman brings misfortune. From this day forth, she is confined to the Cold Palace."

With tears in her eyes, Liu Wanning replied respectfully, "Your humble concubine accepts the decree."

Through years of freezing nights in the Cold Palace, she heard that the cold-faced emperor had begun to smile more often. Peering through a half-open door, she finally understood: the only one who could make the emperor smile was her frail younger sister, who could barely care for herself.

Liu Wanning looked at the scar on her slender wrist, left behind when she saved the emperor, and felt a deep ache in her heart. Her younger sister had personally arranged for her to get that scar.

He knew the truth, yet after crushing his teacup, he stood by her younger sister's side.

Pei Zhaoye stood at the summit, alone. The higher he climbed, the colder it became.

He had thought Liu Wanning was the person he hated most, and that once she was dead, there would be no one left in the world to despise.

But for reasons he could not understand, the day he watched her throw herself into the moat, he went mad with grief and tried to leap in after her. He only managed to catch a torn piece of her clothing.

The nights in the Golden Throne Hall were colder than those in the Cold Palace. Looking at the soaked scrap she had left behind, his hand burned where the scorching crimson liquid had spilled onto it. He looked up at the bronze mirror. The man reflected there had blood in his narrow phoenix eyes, and frost-white hair at his temples.

When they finally met again, the emperor shed his hard armor and held her tightly, afraid she would leave him again. He pleaded like a dog begging for scraps. "Ningning, won't you come back to my side?"

Liu Wanning looked at the man's snow-white hair, utterly unmoved. "Only if you get on your knees and beg me to be your secret mistress, hidden from the world!"

Pei Zhaoye's eyes flickered. At last, pride gave way to desire, and he answered, "All right!"

Theme: Face your true feelings