A Scheming Beauty's Guide to Rising to the Top

Upcoming novel: My Noble Consort Is Too Delicate to Care for Herself is now open for follows. Please add it to your favorites!

[The seemingly pampered, scheming villainess is actually a silly beauty, the young princess of the commandery X the gentle man in public, but a sinister, obsessive mad dog in private]

Who in Bianjing didn't know Wen Dai, the Princess of Changning Commandery, famed for her beauty and adored by the entire imperial household?

Though she was spoiled and willful, suitors still came in droves, countless as fish swimming upstream.

But Wen Dai was stubbornly devoted to Xie An, and wouldn't even spare anyone else a glance.

Until, during her mother's birthday banquet, Wen Dai was pushed into the lake. While unconscious, she saw that in the future her elder half-sister would trample her underfoot.

Xie An would make things difficult for her at every turn because of that woman, while her half-sister would turn everyone against her and force her to marry a beggar, condemning her to a miserable life.

Wen Dai refused to accept her fate. If she wanted something, she always found a way to get it.

So she went along with it and simply pretended to have lost her memory, changing her formerly arrogant ways.

She even treated Xie Huai, the illegitimate son of the Xie family whom everyone else avoided, with courtesy, all so people would believe that her temperament had changed.

Everything was for the sake of making Xie An fall in love with her, then discarding him like rubbish and letting him know that he was the one who'd been blind.

Xie Huai had spent his first decade and a half learning to endure and lie low. Xie An could do whatever he pleased, while Xie Huai had to follow every rule. Xie An could be unruly, but Xie Huai couldn't make a single mistake.

He thought his life would simply pass by like that, until Wen Dai appeared.

At their first meeting, he spotted the dazzling young woman in the crowd. She was not kind to him, and later, when he heard she'd lost her memory, he didn't give it much thought.

But she kept barging into his line of sight, coming closer to him again and again.

As he saw it, the young princess's act was painfully obvious. Under the pretense of caring about him, she was really fishing for information about Xie An.

He stayed out of it, watching coldly as the fool Xie An was led around in circles. He never noticed that, without realizing it, his own gaze had already settled on her.

He even stooped to trading information about Xie An with her, hoping to slowly tuck her away somewhere high and keep her under his control.

But when the truth came out, Wen Dai abandoned Xie An without hesitation, and... him too.

They met again at the young princess's engagement banquet. Amid the festive decorations, he saw her in her wedding dress, seated on the wedding bed and staring at him in terror.

For the first time in his life, Xie Huai learned the taste of jealousy: like a venomous snake, like a parasite gnawing at the bone, with pain and love entwined.

P.S. One-on-one romance, both leads virgins.

Neither lead is perfect, and neither is a saint.

Upcoming novel: My Noble Consort Is Too Delicate to Care for Herself

Blurb: [A seemingly ruthless and obsessive emperor who is actually stubborn and jealous X A seemingly gentle and docile noble consort who is actually scheming and dramatic]

Qiao Si had been raised at home like a canary in a cage. To her family, her only purpose was to build alliances, and she was treated like an object to be sold to the highest bidder.

She didn't like Chu Yao, but she had no choice when their engagement was forced on her. She learned what Chu Yao liked and became a gentle, docile woman.

But when she suddenly discovered that Chu Yao's identity was fake, she immediately begged her father to break off the engagement. She carefully chose a new man from a respectable family, someone easy to control, and waited to marry into his household.

Unexpectedly, when a new emperor takes the throne, a new court follows.

Her fiance was imprisoned for treason, and the Qiao family demanded that she break off the engagement. She refused to let fate toy with her like this and ran everywhere seeking help, but no one would listen. Just as she was about to despair, someone from the palace suddenly arrived.

Inside the Hall of Golden Chimes, the young emperor sat high above, turning a jade thumb ring in his hand as he gazed indifferently at the helpless, alluring woman below.

Watching her sincerely defend her fiance, he rose, came to stand before her, and gripped her chin, his voice cold as ice.

"The Qiao family women are so good at putting on a show. Can you truly love someone?"

He mocked her so-called sincerity, while jealousy coiled inside him like a poisonous snake.

Later, many people mocked the Qiao family in private.

They'd actually had the nerve to send Qiao Si into the palace, and she hadn't even been given anything better than the lowest rank of beauty. The noblewomen of every house eagerly waited to see Qiao Si get tormented and driven from the palace.

But news of Qiao Si's promotions kept coming from the palace.

Chu Yao knew Qiao Si didn't like him, but he still couldn't stop watching her.

He had thought someone like her had no real feelings. Then, after he lost his memories of the past, he saw her make a miserable mess of herself for someone else.

He suddenly felt deeply unwilling to accept it. Why couldn't that person be him?

He forced Qiao Si into the palace so she would understand who the best branch to climb really was.

He watched coldly as she seduced him just as before. He thought he wouldn't be affected, but he was still caught up in every frown and smile of hers.

Late at night, damp with sweat, their breaths mingled.

The young emperor bit her lips and caressed her soft, pale belly, his gaze tender and shadowed.

"When will you give me a crown prince, Qiao Qiao?"

Qiao Si couldn't say a word. As her gaze went unfocused, she couldn't help wondering: Which of them was the sickly one, anyway?

"He possesses a world stretching thousands of miles, yet humbles himself at her fingertips, pleading for her love."

P.S. The male lead pursues his wife and regrets his actions. He seems cold, but he comes to adore her.

The female lead falls for him later. She is no perfect person, and no saint.

Both leads are virgins.

Theme: Sincerity is what matters most