After Humiliating the Enemy General

[Complete. The authorized edition includes the original, previously deleted content in a polished version. I take no responsibility for pirated copies~]

[Next book: The Beauty Beside My Pillow. Synopsis at the very bottom.]

Zhou Yiyue had never met Wei Qin.

On the Lantern Festival, he appeared before her like a ghost, claiming to be the slave she had once kept.

Fireworks filled the sky.

The man sneered. "When Your Highness cruelly abandoned me, did you ever think I might come back to life?"

Madman.

Zhou Yiyue cursed him in a trembling voice, but he pinned her against a tree trunk, leaving her unable to move.

The hairpin her consort had given her was crushed beneath his black boots.

*

In the thirty-fourth year of Yuanshuo, Jin and Liang went to war, and the capital fell.

The first thing Wei Qin did after breaching the city was go to the gates to intercept her.

"Princess Chaozhu, you were quite hard to find."

Dust swirled around them. The man on horseback had a stern face, looking down at her.

Zhou Yiyue looked up, and memories long buried surged into her mind.

The man's features matched those of the young slave in her memories.

He had once raced over on horseback just like this to save her from a runaway horse.

He had held her in his arms, his scorching kiss falling on her lips.

*

Chains wound around the woman's snow-white ankles.

The man said, "A-Yue, you owe me this."

"In this life and every life after, you can only be with me."

He kept her captive in the military camp, chained her to a golden dais, and demanded her every night.

*

That night, the flames of the bonfire blazed, illuminating the woman's exquisite, sharp features.

Zhou Yiyue reached out with a jade-white finger, wiped the bead of blood from the corner of her mouth, and looked at Wei Qin, the man who had become her curse.

"I'll kill you sooner or later."

Wei Qin seized her wrist and raised it above her head. "Good. I can't wait."

"But let's see if you can make it through tonight first."

His movements beneath her grew even more brutal. Inside the tent, their entwined silhouettes were utterly frenzied.

*

Later, he slaughtered his way through the nine tiers of the palace and seized the throne.

All because she had once said she wanted to live in the imperial palace.

But he built a golden cage out of lies, and she was no phoenix to be kept inside it.

[Read these content warnings!!!]

The female and male leads have both had previous partners; neither is a virgin. They are both deeply twisted, with no redemption.

The heroine has a child with the second male lead, and has intimate scenes with both the second and third male leads.

While the heroine is married to the second male lead, she has no romantic relationship with the male lead.

[Coming soon: The Beauty Beside My Pillow]

[Sweet, delicate beauty x scheming powerful official]

Jiang Lingyi, the second daughter of the Minister of Works, was delicate and lovely. She had been betrothed to the Marquis of Huairong's household since childhood.

After an abrupt change in circumstances, her father entrusted her to his student, Yan Che.

With misty almond-shaped eyes, Lingyi timidly took the young gentleman's hand and called him Brother.

*

Everyone said that Yan Che seemed gracious and polished on the surface, but was actually sinister and hard to approach.

Only Lingyi liked to cling to him. Whenever he returned, she would lift her skirts and run to greet him, calling, "Brother Xunzhi," as she wrapped her arms around his neck and coyly asked him to hold her.

Yan Che remained cool and indifferent, never taking the initiative to touch or embrace her.

Until one day, he used his brush to lightly draw a flower-shaped mark on her shoulder, then slowly traced it down to her chest.

"Go see him."

"The people of the marquis's household should regret breaking off the engagement."

*

Later, the marquis's household proposed marriage again, hoping to bring their future marchioness over as soon as possible.

Lingyi leaned sweetly against Yan Che's knee. "Brother, A-Heng says he wants to marry me."

She rested her cheek in her palm, her eyes and brows full of a young girl's shyness.

A jade cup tapped lightly against the table, and the fragrance of tea veiled the dark currents in the man's phoenix eyes.

Yan Che took a keen interest in her marriage.

Before her wedding, he entered her chamber and signaled for the etiquette matron to leave.

His black boots stepped over illustrated books scattered across the floor.

Rain pattered against the window lattice, and soft moans sounded from within.

Lingyi's cheeks flushed red as she pushed at him in confusion. "Brother, are you really teaching me my lessons...?"

The man smiled faintly, pressing his fingertip against the beauty mark on her lips and caressing it gently.

"What did I just teach you?"

"How should you beg me if you want me to stop?"

Yan Che spent his life manipulating imperial power and the hearts of men as if they were in the palm of his hand. Only two things ever took him by surprise.

First, he took in a little white rabbit and neglected to keep her in check, nearly letting someone else steal her away.

Second, he taught her too well, and could no longer bear to let her go.

Theme: Pursue freedom and oppose restraint.