Nightfall

This novel features an ensemble cast, a reunion, mystery-solving, and political intrigue. The upcoming novel, A Blade for the Throne, is being drafted.

Ning Jiayu was once the pampered jewel of the Grand Tutor's household, cherished like a priceless treasure, with every year bringing a joyful reunion. When she was seven, an old fire from the spring burned her family to the ground and left her with nothing.

The entire Grand Tutor's household was framed. Her father was executed and displayed in public for treason, and she had no choice but to die. But a young man charged into the execution ground, facing down a crowd of thousands, determined to preserve her father's body intact.

Yet she and that young man had barely met once.

Ten years passed. The pampered girl became an assassin who had never lost a fight. Then someone told her:

"Take the head of Ning Zhan, heir of Jianing, and you'll get what you want."

So she came, never expecting to reunite beneath the heir's disguise with the young man who had once shown her such profound kindness...

-

The world was filthy long before those ten years began. In the end, she did set her heart on killing, but changed her name and identity, then joined Ning Zhan in staking their lives as pieces in a game against the long night. The crown prince, long renowned for his virtue, drew his sword time and again to protect the assassin. The assassin, swift as the wind, kept journeying far and wide to help the crown prince.

Her master warned her, "Ning Zhan is two-faced. When he discovers that you're the daughter of a condemned official, a woman everyone believes should have been dead long ago, do you really think he won't kill you?"

Ning Jiayu replied, "Everyone has their own convictions, and Ning Zhan and I happen to share the same ones."

-

With a sharp tongue, she fought treacherous officials with truth and lies. With a folded fan, she could slay gods and solve baffling cases.

The dense fog swallowed the beacon fires. At last, Ning Zhan pulled the red veil from Ning Jiayu's face. "...It doesn't matter if you deceive people and hide your identity. But you can't leave. You can't leave me alone again, the way you did ten years ago..."

She would make the war drums that should have sunk into the underworld resound from north to south. She would bring peace to the realm and keep its lamps burning through the night. She would prove to her master that their shared convictions were no empty words.

Battered and wounded, Ning Jiayu called Ning Zhan by the name he had used when they first met. "Yuan Zhen, now I really have no father, no mother, and no home."

Even if she became more than one person's moon, she would keep losing her own moon again and again.

-

People hope for blessings, trees hope for spring. By day, they hope for sunshine; by night, they hope for lamplight.

Reading Guide

1. This story is entirely fictional. Please don't treat it as historical fact.

2. Happy ending. A clever, capable, and mischievous assassin x a calculating, scheming crown prince. Secret crush reunited, bickering couple, and mutual healing. Includes male rivals and emotional and physical suffering for the male lead.

3. Many original worldbuilding elements, including beastfolk. A mix of serious and lighthearted tones, with an overarching plot alongside episodic arcs.

4. Welcome to the night. Blurb dated December 29, 2024.

Upcoming historical romance, A Blade for the Throne: marriage before love, political intrigue, ensemble cast, reborn.

A sickly princess of exceptional beauty and talent x a carefree playboy in disguise / a crafty prince who hides a blade behind his smile

Bian Xu was the most beautiful woman in Jiang, famed far and wide for her learning.

Sadly, she had been frail since childhood. Rumor had it that after an evil spirit possessed her, her forgetfulness became incurable, and those tender eyes, said to steal souls, nearly cried themselves blind. In all the world, Bian Xu remembered only poetry, books, etiquette, and her beloved younger brother Bian Xuan, who treated her with boundless kindness. She could not remember where her tears came from.

"Princess, we're almost there."

Bian Xu kept asking, "Where are we going? What are we doing? With whom?"

"Lechuan. To marry. To..."

Bian Xu didn't know why the person outside the palanquin had choked up and fallen silent. She simply offered them her handkerchief.

Her longtime guard didn't know how to explain it either. The princess was being married off to a playboy she had never even exchanged greetings with, though they had been classmates for years. It was all because the crown prince, Bian Yan, had proposed to the emperor:

"Given my royal sister's beauty and talent, granting her in marriage to He Qi'an, heir of Lechuan, will surely bring Jiang and Lechuan together as one!"

-

He Gai was the biggest playboy in the northwest, with a reputation for appalling conduct.

Lying flat and enjoying himself was his top priority. He hated the courtesy name Qi'an bestowed on him by imperial decree, as well as the books and etiquette that got in the way of his carefree life of fine clothes, fast horses, and knife-throwing.

To preserve his freedom, He Gai had once risked his life to deceive the emperor, sending a double to take his place and attend the palace school. He was doing the same thing now.

"Heir! Get a grip!"

He Gai urged his double to go all the way: "Marry in my place!"

"...The princess is the most beautiful woman in Jiang. Don't you dare regret this."

He Gai didn't believe him, so the double helplessly admitted he'd never even seen the princess.

The double obeyed orders and tied the heir up in the bridal chamber. But the princess walked out and asked her handsome guard to share her room. The King of the Northwest held up a childhood portrait of the heir and shouted across the grasslands:

"Doesn't the princess look exactly like the woman you said you'd marry no matter what? You little brat, how dare you run off on your wedding day!"

-

Bian Xu didn't know how many lifetimes she had spent marrying him, or how many lifetimes she had wept blood.

In this life, war erupted in Jiang, and its army marched into the Central Plains.

The top priority for General He Gai became the wife beside him, gazing toward the throne. "Qianyun, do you remember who you are?"

She looked only at her dear younger brother, who had pushed her into a gamble with his own hands. She watched Bian Xuan step down from the throne before everyone's eyes and kneel smiling beneath her blade, but she remained unmoved.

"Bian Qianyun of Jiang, together with my husband He Gai, has come to rid the world of a menace."

Theme: Live passionately as you go.