Claiming the Lovely One

(I've revised this many times. I'm not responsible for pirated versions. My next novel will be Conquering the Male Leads at the Same Time, please add it to your collection!)

==Novel Blurb==

On a rainy night, Xiao Pei is hunted down by famous figures of the martial world. She collapses in a puddle outside White Jade Valley, when a tall shadow suddenly falls over her.

She raises her head. Rain and tears blur her vision, but she sees a familiar face.

The elegant gentleman holds a green bamboo umbrella. A white jade mask covers his face, and rain spatters his cheeks and soaks his clothes.

He looks down at her and smiles faintly. A moment later, he removes his mask. His handsome face is so familiar that Xiao Pei's spine shivers, chilled by the wind and filled with fear. She can't help recalling what happened back then:

For the sake of a treasure, she pretended to be the heir's fiancée. Naive and clueless, she stirred his heart, but through a twist of fate, she left him alone to complete their wedding rites.

He can't be here to hunt her down, can he...?

Xiao Pei blinks, gives in, and throws herself into his arms, crying, "I've missed you so much."

He's always been easy to coax.

Surely this time will be just like before.

The heir remains unmoved, so she grows bolder. She tentatively hooks her arms around his neck, rises onto her toes, and brushes her soft lips against his Adam's apple.

She takes his hand, just as she always used to.

The heir freezes for a moment, then sweeps her up in his arms. His voice is gentle, as if all his anger has vanished.

He takes her home, feeds her well, and dresses her up in fine silks and jade hairpins. Xiao Pei grows bolder too, occasionally sneaking a peek at some handsome men.

It isn't until he binds her hands and locks her inside a carefully crafted golden cage that she understands. Day after day, she wears different wedding gowns, weeping, her body weak and only able to cling to his gently moving waist as she calls him husband again and again:

Sooner or later, you have to pay for what you've done.

She forgot that the heir is ruthless. He always gets what he wants.

No matter what it takes.

[Reading Guide]

A cynical, cunning heir x a sunny, adorable mechanism-maker. Her scorned husband takes her back, and she lies flat and lets him spoil her.

1. Both leads are each other's only partner. Happy ending. The male lead is faithful in body and heart. The characters aren't based on real people.

2. Martial world and court intrigue, with both leads using secret identities.

3. The blurb's events take place in Volume Four, White Jade Valley. Chapters marked "Read with Caution" in the table of contents are plot-only and can be skipped.

4. Cover art by the artist @UnknownBlueRaccoon.

5. The heroine's name is tied to the inspiration for this story. Xiao Pei came first, and the whole novel grew from there. If you say my baby's name is ugly, I'll come for you through the internet cable (‡▼益▼)/* and bonk you!

> Writing isn't easy. Thanks to every dear reader who supports the original. Sending love!

> If it's not to your taste, feel free to drop it without telling me.

> Anti-piracy: 60%, 72 hours.

Upcoming novel 1: My Imperial Brother Is the Hero of an Explicit Novel. Please add it to your collection ^_^

The princess marries her consort. Rumor has it they're deeply in love and perfectly suited to each other.

Little do people know that the consort has shut himself away for days, desperately weeping as he searches for his wife without success.

Meanwhile, in a secret chamber in the emperor's bedchamber, where the floor is covered in fox-fur rugs, a breathtaking beauty lies naked, drenched in sweat. She briefly regains consciousness, but before she can make out the face before her, her partner lights the incense again.

As the incense-laden air swirls and they lose themselves in passion,

Even she doesn't know that the person she's calling for is her brother.

Upcoming novel 2: Conquering the Male Leads at the Same Time

Beloved Battleground is a newly released historical romance game featuring three popular types of male leads:

[1: Forbidden Love Route] The prince regent, her cousin. [2: Loyal Hound Route] The young bandit chieftain. [3: Art of Tea Route] A male companion from a fallen family.

Each of the three male leads is handsome in his own way, but since the game launched, no player has managed to win them all. The game forums are full of daily meltdowns and heartbreak.

Player Shen Yaoyao dies from exhaustion after an all-nighter and transmigrates into the game. She can only return to reality by completing her mission.

System: You must raise the affection of all three conquest targets at the same time.

Shen Yaoyao: Σ(っ °Д °;)っ There's not even a guide!

What else can she do? Put on a secret identity and improvise!

[Secret Identity One: Fox Spirit]

The prince regent rescues a little fox, which leaves a blanket's worth of fur all over his bed.

She gets an idea and transforms into a pretty young woman.

She says she's a fox spirit who has come to repay his kindness.

[Secret Identity Two: Orphan Without Spiritual Powers]

On his way back to the stronghold, the dashing young bandit chief suddenly has a beauty drop out of a tree.

What a coincidence: she lands right in his arms.

She says she'll be his bandit wife.

[Secret Identity Three: Passionate Empress]

The enemy nation's crown prince risks everything to play along, pretending to be the impoverished empress's male companion to win her favor. Who knew it would cost him more than he bargained for!

She says that among three thousand beauties, he alone has her heart.

Unfortunately, even a household has to sit down to a meal together sometimes.

Shen Yaoyao skids right into a spectacular crash.

The enemy nation's crown prince, who endured humiliation and gave her his body, drops his disguise and feeds her wine mouth to mouth. He wipes the tears from the corner of her eye with his thumb. "Is this the face you used to seduce them?"

The young bandit chief, whom she'd just coaxed into calling himself "chief," downs his liquor and taunts, "She accepted my flower of love. That means she agreed to come back to the stronghold with me and be my bandit wife!"

The gentle, water-like regent toys with his jade ring. "Just a wildflower? The little fox is wearing my family's heirloom bracelet on her wrist."

"Hah! She also accepted the jade pendant my mother gave to the crown princess."

*

Later, Shen Yaoyao finally raises all the male leads' affection to the maximum. She plans to put on a new secret identity and run off to live freely, but the System stops her.

"Congratulations! You've unlocked a hidden mission. The developers want the conquest targets in the game to experience what it's like to be pursued too. The mission has now been reversed. You need to raise the affection of every target pursuing you to 100."

Shen Yaoyao asks weakly, "Which one?"

System: All of them.

The next second, she's sent back to her starting secret identity.

Shen Yaoyao holds on to the belief that you can pursue someone once or a thousand times, and slips on banana peels as she juggles the men.

But this time, the male leads can actually see her affection levels!

They not only discover she's playing favorites, but also suspect that a sixth person is involved.

The System's cold voice rings out from the sky:

"The one who isn't loved is the other woman, the other woman after that, and the one after that..."

The indulgent smiles on the men's faces slowly vanish, and the whole world descends into chaos.

Handsome men of every type join forces to lock her in a golden cage. With her luxurious robes half-removed, they suggest softly, "Since you're pursuing us, you should see it through to the end."

(Click the author's announcement for a direct link to the upcoming novels, or visit my profile to add them to your collection. Thanks for reading!)

Theme: Rumors are what others think. Desire comes from within.