[Possessive Abduction of a Minister's Wife]
Short blurb:
As she bowed before the altar with another man, he stood quietly behind the screen.
Long blurb:
The sky was dark with clouds on the day Su Yi'an was to be married.
After waiting a long time with no groom in sight, she lifted her veil. The wedding chamber was bright with candles, and wedding cakes were piled high, but her new husband was nowhere to be seen.
Three steps away, Chu Shen idly toyed with a coiled-dragon jade pendant, his brows revealing a hint of a young emperor's authority. "An'an, was it tiring to bow before the altar with someone else?"
In her terror, the long ribbons of her wedding robe knocked over the screen painted with mandarin ducks. Glass shards scattered across the floor. Su Yi'an trembled and cried hysterically, "Your Majesty, what will it take for you to let this woman go?"
His long fingers slowly undid the buttons at her collar. Her soft, snowy-white back was pressed against the cold wall.
Chu Shen's thin lips curled slightly, as if amused. "This woman? Weren't you going to be mine?"
The night was deep, and rain poured outside the window.
The next day, the emperor went to court with the collar of his dragon-patterned robe raised to hide the scratches on his chin. The new bride of the Marquis's household was too ill to receive visitors.
For a long time, Su Yi'an saw no sunlight beyond the walls surrounding her.
-
When she returned to the palace once more, Chu Shen's hands clamped around her neck, trembling violently, though his voice was gentle, coaxing and pleading at once. "What's so good about him? An'an, do you want to be empress? Just say you love me, "
"I don't love you."
Her pale neck, stained with cinnabar, was like white jade streaked with blood. Su Yi'an shoved Chu Shen's arms away, her crescent-shaped eyes full of hatred and despair.
Chu Shen suddenly remembered their childhood.
That day, the spring sun was warm. She held the kite he had given her, her smile as brilliant as cherry blossoms on a flowering branch. Shyness filled the young girl's eyes, but her words were firm. "A Shen, you're so good to me. When I grow up, I'm going to marry you!"
Content warnings:
1. Pure possessive abduction and melodrama. Don't read if that's not your thing.
2. Both leads have had no prior partners.
3. First version of the blurb, 2024.10.8
Theme: Opposing feudalism
