Tempting the Lord

A Sweet Romance with a Sadistic Male Lead | Female Bodyguard x Crown Prince [Complete] Li Ruo is a palace guard in the Eastern Palace, sworn to serve the Crown Prince with her life. The Crown Prince is cold and aloof, looking down on everyone. He regards Li Ruo as a confidante, a weapon, and a servant, but never as a woman. Later, Li Ruo commits a grave offense, and the Eastern Palace will not spare her. Before the Crown Prince can sentence her to death, Li Ruo packs her things and flees, determined to do something audacious. She has long coveted the Crown Prince. If she could make her former master kneel at her feet and let her do whatever she pleased, she would have no regrets in this life. And then she really does it. The Crown Prince is ambushed by bandits while on a progress and disappears for more than two months. Li Ruo successfully captures him. She is determined to become the Crown Prince's lifelong nightmare. During those wretched days, the cold, chaste, high-and-mighty heir to the throne is forced to submit to his former subordinate and let her do as she pleases. She takes liberties with him, using all kinds of unspeakable methods on his body. He hates her to the bone and vows to repay her a hundredfold. After the new emperor ascends the throne, he secretly orders the capture of a female assassin. Yet despite years of searching across the vast realm, she is nowhere to be found. * Plum blossoms grow fragrant through bitter cold. After surviving death several times and finding family, Li Ruo leaves her past behind, lets go of her obsessions, and begins anew. She settles in a city far from the capital, gives birth to a son and a daughter on her own, studies business, and enjoys the hard-won peace of her life. Several years later, the emperor's procession stops there during his southern inspection tour. They meet again at a banquet hosted by the prefect: one is the exalted emperor, the other a businesswoman striving to rise. After several twists and turns, she hides her identity to lure her enemy out. There are no profitable business ventures here, only an old foe seeking revenge. By the time Li Ruo comes to her senses, there is no way out. In the end, she must pay for what she has done. My new novel, I Would Be Your Lowly Servant, is coming soon. If you're interested, please follow it in my author page so you don't miss its launch! Multiple male leads | A battlefield of men competing for her | A delicate flower who's hard to please, and lovesick lunatics who all want to possess her Synopsis: One reckless night leaves Jiang Rou as the secret lover of Cui Jing, the Chief Councillor of the current dynasty. Cui Jing tells her that once she gives birth, he'll give her a proper status. But on the day she gives birth, Jiang Rou doesn't wait for Cui Jing to bring her into his household. Instead, she receives the imperial edict announcing the emperor's betrothal of Cui Jing to the Grand Princess. The Grand Princess sends her poisoned wine, telling her to die in peace. At her most desperate, the neighboring Duke Xie offers her a lifeline. Xie Chongzhou is the only son of the Empress Dowager's family and the youngest duke in the court. He and Cui Jing are both favored by the emperor, but they've been bitter rivals for years, constantly at each other's throats. The first time Xie Chongzhou visits the residence, his eyes fall teasingly on her, boldly looking her up and down. He asks Cui Jing for his concubine. Cui Jing assumes Xie Chongzhou is deliberately picking a fight. After all, who else would want a delicate flower so hard to please and so bad-tempered? Besides, Jiang Ling despises Xie Chongzhou and avoids him at all costs. Who could have guessed that Jiang Ling would later willingly follow Xie Chongzhou and leave Cui Jing without looking back? But in the end, Xie Chongzhou doesn't manage to make the delicate flower his own either. He lets her slip away by accident. - Several years later, Prince Ning returns to the capital from his fief with his concubine, Lady Jiang, and asks that she be granted the title of princess consort. Jiang Rou finally gets the wealth and status she has always longed for. But at the palace banquet, Chief Councillor Cui and Duke Xie get into a fierce fight. In the end, Prince Ning gets caught up in it too, and all three end up on their knees before the emperor, their faces bruised and swollen. The emperor rebukes them for being blind and letting a vixen bewitch them. And with a mind like Jiang Ling's, calling her a vixen would be a compliment. He absolutely will not allow his most important ministers to fall out over a woman. Then Jiang Rou is banished to a temple for religious cultivation. During her time there, Cui Jing, Xie Chongzhou, and Prince Ning take turns visiting Jiang Ling, but she refuses to see any of them. Yet no one knows that inside the solemn main hall, a corner of bright yellow robes is pinning down a plain white Daoist robe. The emperor has no choice but to admit that this woman really is a vixen. Theme: Plum blossoms grow fragrant through bitter cold.