[Next book, currently writing ahead]
*Pretend relationship becomes real / Flirt and run / Marriage before love / Dangerous relationship
*Kyoto heiress vs. Hong Kong tycoon with ambitions
People say they fell deeply in love aboard the royal cruise ship that nearly sank, and had a turbulent secret affair.
Lu Kong, a young heiress from a prestigious Kyoto family, became an internet sensation with the line, "No one is good enough for me." Her beauty and family background are equally dazzling, proud, and impeccable. She's a famous thorny rose.
Xu Chen, an investment mogul from Hong Kong, has always kept an extremely low profile. But recently, Hong Kong media uncovered his top-tier background as an heir to a shipping dynasty, setting all sorts of families scheming.
The dazzling rose who stings everyone in Kyoto unexpectedly rescues a pretty boy from the cruise ship's deck when a storm hits. He'd been forced to drink and nearly fallen overboard. Little does she know he's the "jade-faced fox," notorious in Hong Kong's business circles.
A century-defining banquet rife with undercurrents gives rise to several versions of the "Kyoto-Hong Kong star-crossed romance," forcing those with designs on them to back off and the schemers to hold back.
Only Lu Kong knows she and Xu Chen have nothing to do with each other.
Their chance encounter is real. Everything else is fake.
There was no love at first sight, no unwavering devotion, and certainly no facing death together.
Only taking advantage of circumstances, covering for each other... and understanding without a word.
*Until the day of the engagement banquet.
"Your arranged match can't make it just now."
"All right."
Him.
Why was he here?
To laugh at her, to tempt her, or...
"Could it not be because I'm worried about you?"
The man interrupted Lu Kong. He smiled at her, though the smile never reached his eyes.
"Lu Kong, could I not simply be worried about you?"
Xu Chen slowly ran his fingers over hers and tilted his head to kiss her. His kiss brushed her ear, sending waves of heat through the woman in his arms, yet leaving no room for refusal.
"Or is it that the young miss treats everyone else the same way, using them and then running off?"
*
"Do you believe in fate?"
"I didn't before."
"What about now?"
"..."
"A little."
*The fox refuses to be tamed by the waiting wheat fields; the rose beneath the glass shatters the sky.
[First draft blurb: 2024.4.21, latest screenshot: 2026.5.16]
Theme: Love is the surrender of free will
