Spoiled and willful eldest princess x stoic regent
Shen Huaizhu, the eldest princess of Great Liang, has always gotten whatever she wants. But one wish remains unfulfilled: she has never won the favor of the current chancellor, Zhou Yu.
One day, while visiting the fighting arena, she spots a slave lying in a pool of blood, his eyes the only part of him visible as they sweep over the audience.
Their gazes meet.
She springs to her feet and points at the slave, declaring, "I, the princess, will buy him."
The whole arena erupts in whispers, everyone wondering what the slave did to offend her.
She merely smiles and strolls toward the arena.
"From this day forward, you belong to my princess's household."
She offers a faint smile and holds out a hand to the bloodstained man at her feet.
*
Ye Linyuan can't understand why the haughty eldest princess would come to the rescue of someone as lowly as him, or why she treats him with such care.
All his questions are answered the day the chancellor comes to visit the princess's residence.
In her words: "It's your good fortune to bear some resemblance to Zhou Yu. Don't be ungrateful."
So it was someone else's light he basked in.
That night, amid a storm, she embraced the man she loved. He stood in the rain, clenching his fist until his knuckles turned white.
*
In the fifth year of Yongxing, the emperor dies, and the nine-year-old Ninth Prince ascends the throne. Ye Linyuan is appointed regent.
But the eldest princess, once honored above all, vanishes without a trace overnight.
Late at night, at the Regent's residence.
"...Ye Linyuan, what has gotten into you?" Shen Huaizhu clutches the embroidered cushion beneath her with one hand and desperately swings the other at the man only inches away.
He neither dodges nor retreats. He gently licks the thin streak of blood at the corner of his lips and smiles. "I was always a vicious slave, Your Highness. Didn't you know that already?"
Ye Linyuan prided himself on being heartless, until he met Shen Huaizhu.
He became a complete madman.
[Reading guide]
1. They're both crazy.
2. The dynasty is fictional, so please don't scrutinize the history.
Theme: Love's origins are unknowable, but once it takes hold, it runs deep
My Late Husband's Brother Has His Eye on Me
I Mistook You for Someone Else and Cast You Aside
A Longing for Spring Mountains
She Is Already Another Man's Wife
His Runaway Maid
The Regretful Young Master
My Husband Once Threatened to Divorce Me
She Made Him Bow
Madam Has Nowhere to Run
The Great General Had His Eye on Me All Along
After I Was Ordered to Marry the Stern General