[Substitute Bride] [Marriage First, Love Later] [Sweet Yet Proud Heiress x Wife-Doting Brocade Guard]
Also known as I’ve Developed Improper Thoughts About My Brocade Guard Boyfriend
The nineteenth year of Yongle
The Brocade Guards and the Eastern Depot were the two great powers meddling in court affairs.
Everyone knew the Brocade Guards were ruthless, using cruel methods to force confessions during interrogations. People were all too eager to keep their distance. Yet the imperial decree clearly stated that her elder sister, Ye Qingwan, was to marry Xie Heng.
On the day the decree arrived, Ye Qingyi learned she was not a daughter of the Ye family.
To investigate her origins and make her sister’s marriage possible, she willingly took her sister’s place and married Xie Heng.
From then on, Ye Qingyi assumed the name Ye Qingwan...
The wedding was real, but their wedding night was in name only. After they married, they treated each other with courtesy. Ye Qingwan thought this imperial marriage was part of a conspiracy, but Xie Heng had fallen for her in earnest.
As time passed, Ye Qingyi deliberately avoided Xie Heng out of timidity, but he mistook it for disdain.
Unable to bear the gossip any longer, Xie Heng barged into her room one night and saw Ye Qingwan packing a bundle. He pressed a hand against her neatly tied luggage and asked, "Madam, we’ve only just married. Are you already planning to divorce me?"
She took several uneasy steps back. "I’m going to see my father. I’ll be back in two days."
One day, Ye Qingyi overheard a conversation and learned that marrying her and forging an alliance had been part of Xie Heng’s original plan all along.
The girl burned with anger at being manipulated, and just seeing Xie Heng now irritated her.
That evening, Xie Heng caught her packing again. Calmly, he asked, "Are you going to see Lord Ye, Madam? When will you be back?"
Ye Qingyi glared at him, furious, and declared, "I’m not coming back. You can live by yourself!"
Xie Heng: "..."
And so Lord Xie began his long journey to win back his wife.
*
"I heard there’s a ruthless man in the Brocade Guards named Xie Heng. He’s the son of the commander of the Brocade Guards!"
"I know."
"They say he was decisive and notorious before he married, but afterward he clung to his wife and hardly ever went to the Northern Garrison Branch."
"What?!! What kind of woman could be that formidable?"
"The Censor’s daughter!"
So everyone in the capital assumed the Censor’s daughter must be fierce-looking and powerfully built to have brought Xie Heng to heel.
Until the day they saw her.
The Censor’s daughter was graceful and breathtakingly beautiful, nothing like the dreadful woman described in the city’s rumors.
That night, he gave her a city full of fireworks.
The people of the city watched the dazzling display across the sky along with her.
Xie Heng told her, "You are the person I protect with my life, the one I hold dearest. Even if I have to sacrifice my life, I will keep you safe."
He also said, "I’ve gotten my wish and married you. That is enough for this lifetime."
Ye Qingyi smiled, engraving his words in her heart.
Along with them, she engraved his promise.
That night,
fireworks bloomed across the city, all for her alone.
Reader’s Guide:
* Of course it’s a sweet romance.
* Every lovely reader who adds this to their reading list is adorable!
* Please add my next book, Reborn in the Second Year After Death
Theme: Good and evil will both be repaid in the end
Is it a long story or a short story?