Synopsis
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In the fifteenth year of Chunyou, Fifth Princess Zhao Yaoyao was abducted by an enemy state.
The emperor flew into a rage and immediately ordered Left Chancellor Li Qingyan to negotiate at the border. At the same time, he commanded the crown prince to select elite guards from the Eastern Palace's secret guard corps, who would use the negotiations between the two states as cover to infiltrate the enemy army and rescue the Fifth Princess.
At the decree, the secret guard corps groaned in despair. No one was willing to take on what seemed certain to be a suicide mission.
As luck would have it, Su Yao was the unlucky soul chosen after countless rounds of selection.
Before she left, Zhao Ran tenderly caressed Su Yao's face. His gentle eyes brimmed with affection. "Yao'er, you are the finest secret guard in the Eastern Palace. Your talent is extraordinary, and you excel at everything from blades and swords to medicine and poison. You are the right person for this mission."
"When you return, I will marry you."
Su Yao herself: ...That's a misunderstanding. I may be a genius, but that's not the point.
Su Yao knew perfectly well that Zhao Ran had chosen her only because her face bore some resemblance to that of the pampered Fifth Princess, who enjoyed boundless favor.
When the Fifth Princess was swapped out, Su Yao would take her place and continue to endure humiliation in the enemy state.
One sacrifice, two problems solved.
It would fulfill the crown prince's wish to save his own sister, and the Left Chancellor's wish to win the heart of the woman he loved.
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Left Chancellor Li Qingyan, The Outcast, was second only to the emperor and revered by all. He possessed the refined, otherworldly beauty of an immortal, yet was a madman who treated human life as worthless. His power was so overwhelming that even the emperor could not control him.
One step further, and the dynasty would fall. Yet Li Qingyan had fallen in love with the Fifth Princess alone, and was willing to remain a subject forever, simply so the moon in his heart could shine eternally in the vast night sky.
The crown prince devoted himself to governing well and made it his duty to rid the kingdom of corrupt officials. Su Yao, the sharpest sword in the Eastern Palace, had once been tasked with only one mission: assassinate Li Qingyan.
Countless people in this world wanted Li Qingyan dead, but Su Yao was the only one who had ever brought him within a hair's breadth of death.
Su Yao thought Li Qingyan would kill her one day.
Later, the rescue plan was exposed. On the city wall, Su Yao and the Fifth Princess were taken hostage.
The enemy general asked Li Qingyan, "Only one of them can live: the Fifth Princess or this person. Lord Li, who do you choose?"
Su Yao, "this person": ...A stand-in has dignity too. The answer is so obvious, there's no need to ask.
Sure enough, the taciturn Chancellor Li didn't even answer. He simply drew his bow.
The arrow pierced her heart, dead on target.
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When Su Yao opened her eyes again, she was dressed in an embroidered wedding gown and phoenix crown. She looked in the mirror and was horrified to discover that she had somehow ended up in the Fifth Princess's body.
The man before her, dressed in a gold-embroidered red robe and handsome as a piece of jade, was none other than Li Qingyan.
Their wedding feast: the perfect time for revenge.
But the Fifth Princess's body was delicate and weak, and Su Yao had lost all her martial arts. As she agonized over how to make her move, the peerless Lord Li suddenly leaned toward her, his slightly drunken eyes showing a loss of composure she had never seen before.
His usually calm, clear voice trembled.
"A Yao..."
[Bonus Scene]
After they married, Li Qingyan noticed something was wrong with Su Yao, and she tried to run.
She had barely stepped out of the house when everything went black. When she woke again, her gentle husband was no longer the carefree, moonlit gentleman he used to be.
"You can kill me. But you can't run."
Description archived on March 17, 2024
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1. An alternate-history setting with many original details. Please don't scrutinize it for historical accuracy.
2. So many tropes: melodramatic stand-in and beloved moonlight, with a madman chasing love and facing a fiery reckoning.
3. Neither male lead is normal, but both love only the heroine.
4. Please don't relate this to real life.
Theme: Be independent and strong
