After Becoming the Powerful Minister's Widowed Sister-in-Law

To save her gravely ill husband, Heng Yuan travels a thousand miles to seek help from her brother-in-law, Xie Changling.

Though still young, Xie Changling wields great power. He is aristocratic, aloof, and untouchable, yet still has neither wife nor concubine.

At first, Heng Yuan thinks he is a rare gentleman.

Until her husband dies.

The Grand Marshal's residence becomes a cage imprisoning Heng Yuan, and the curtained bed becomes a place where a devil plays.

Heng Yuan tries to escape, cries, and begs for mercy, but in the end she is always dragged back. She is doomed to be confined in Xie Changling's arms and punished.

It seems that the only path left in her life is to obey, become docile, be tamed, and become Xie Changling's plaything.

*

No one knows that Xie Changling, whose reputation had spread across the realm since childhood, was a wicked, unruly boy who delighted in wielding power and toying with the world.

But after playing for so long, Xie Changling grew bored. Then Heng Yuan came into his sights.

This conservative, timid sister-in-law had a resilience and sharp claws no one else could match. No matter how he toyed with or humiliated her, he couldn't make her yield in the slightest.

He became addicted to the game, continually putting his precious possessions on the line without a care. After all, he had never lost in all his time amusing himself in the mortal world. He was bound to win this time, too. One day, he would put a chain around Heng Yuan's neck with his own hands.

Until that day

Heng Yuan drove a hairpin into his chest. As blood gushed out, the clank of armor drew closer.

Only then did Xie Changling realize that, with his deliberate indulgence, Heng Yuan had really allied herself with the young emperor to rebel against him.

And even then, he wasn't angry. He was worried that without him, Heng Yuan might not survive at the young emperor's hands.

Only then did he belatedly realize that he was the one who had been tamed and put in chains.

For the first time, he had lost completely.

This is the next novel I'll be starting. If you're interested, you can bookmark Snatching My Sister.

With a duke for a father and a princess for a mother, Xie Yuman's first seventeen years were the very picture of carefree privilege.

Until the real young master, missing for years, came home. Only then did Xie Yuman learn she was a fake heiress.

A bolt from the blue.

Though the Duke and Duchess were willing to raise her until she married, out of gratitude for all the years they had raised her, Xie Yuman's standing in Chang'an plummeted overnight

Her beloved fiancé broke off their engagement, her closest friends avoided her, and the noblewomen who had once been her enemies now openly mocked and humiliated her.

What could she do? Go back to the countryside and marry some local gentleman at random?

Xie Yuman clutched her handkerchief and agonized over it, then turned her gaze to Xie Guishan, who had only recently returned home.

Xie Guishan had spent years wandering outside the family. He grew up in a bandit den, then joined the army and killed countless men. He had built himself a body of hard muscle and a gaze as sharp as a star's. With a scar across his face, he exuded menace with every step.

Xie Yuman fought her fear as she sewed clothes for him, brought him snacks, applied medicine to his wounds, and even shielded him from the rumors swirling around Chang'an.

She kept it up for a while, but eventually fled in terror beneath the man's burning gaze, as if he wanted to devour her.

Waaah, marrying some country gentleman is still better than being eaten up like a plate of snacks.

*

Though Xie Guishan had spent years away from home and was too rough for Chang'an's elite families, he had a string of military victories and a powerful family behind him. Matchmakers soon came knocking one after another, afraid of missing their chance with this rising star.

Xie Guishan refused to see any of them. The people of Chang'an assumed he was impossibly picky.

They had no idea he had Xie Yuman cornered in front of a rockery, patiently coaxing her. "Do you really want to go back? Are the silks and satins uncomfortable, or do you not like the gold hairpins and silver jewelry?"

"Yesterday, Miss Liu teamed up with that idiot of an ex-fiancé of yours to mock you, and you aren't going to get revenge? Without me, you won't have anyone to lean on."

"Hurry up and dump that pretty boy. With a body like a chicken breast, can he take care of you as well as I can?"

His large hand at her waist was hot enough to melt her thin silk robe. Terrified, Xie Yuman softly pleaded, "Then you have to promise you won't bully me in the future."

Xie Guishan pressed his tongue against his cheek and grinned. "Can't do that, sweet sister. After going hungry for so long, your big brother will go crazy."

Theme: Face your feelings bravely. There's no shame in having emotions.