The Commandery Princess and the Farmhand (GL)

Steadfast laborer x scheming princess

The imperial throne changes hands, and order is rebuilt.

A destitute girl with a surname but no given name, whose family has been destroyed, is picked up by an old beggar on the roadside. A bowl of thin, watery gruel with barely any rice in it saves her life.

Though she is still very young and barely understands what's happening, she enters the prince's residence, covered in blood, and becomes a long-term servant there.

The young lady of the prince's household, barely fifteen, not only gives her the name Yan, but also braves a stormy night to hold a paper umbrella over the head of the girl with nowhere to go. From then on, Li Yan acknowledges her as her mistress.

The little princess is peerlessly noble and has grown up in the lap of luxury, yet her eyes always hold a compassion no one else can understand.

Li Yan willingly becomes her blade. Even when Her Highness uses ruthless methods and acts without mercy, Li Yan never wavers in the slightest.

Wei Wanzheng is busy stirring up trouble at court, but she never expects the first fire to break out in her own household.

The adult princess's thunderous fury ultimately falls upon the one who started it.

Later, Li Yan, who had sworn never to betray her, is bound hand and foot and sent to Her Highness's bed. The usually cunning princess punishes her with a "soft knife."

She wears only a light, gauzy robe, through which the graceful curves of her body can be seen at a glance. The candle flame flickers in the night breeze drifting in through the window. Her delicate, jade-white knees tremble as she kneels before Li Yan. Wearing her usual cool expression, she says things that leave her utterly baffled.

"Have I treated you badly?"

"Look up at me."

"What else do you want me to do?"

Li Yan knows all too well the ways she likes to punish people, so she simply turns her eyes away and keeps her lips sealed.

Wei Wanzheng grits her teeth and endures it for half the night. At last, under Li Yan's gaze, her expression changes. Her eyes, full of reproach and resentment, somehow take on a springtime glow, and pink peach blossoms seem to bloom at their corners.

"You're bullying me." Even her normally cool, certain voice carries a faint tremble and doubt.

She's even making herself out to be the victim.

* A light ensemble cast

* An imaginary dynasty

* Flowers bloom in a mire

Theme: Strive bravely and pursue progress