Lotus

#Brother's Wife Romance + Stepmother Romance #Angsty Drama

*Lianqin is a court musician at Prince Ning's estate.

Aside from her pretty face and her skill at the zither, she knows nothing.

Yet the ambitious Prince Ning chooses her to serve the tyrant rumored to be as unpredictable as he is cruel.

"What do you want me to do for you in the palace?"

On the night before she enters the palace, Lianqin obediently kneels at Prince Ning's side, letting him lift her chin and study her with an impassive gaze.

"Serve the emperor and win his favor."

He decides her fate as casually as giving away a bird he raised from a fledgling, as if the warmth between them moments ago had vanished without a trace.

*At the New Year's Eve banquet, Prince Ning's careful plotting delivers Lianqin to the side of the reigning emperor.

The emperor has long suffered from migraines, which grow especially severe in winter. Listening to her play the zither brings him some relief.

Lianqin plays in the emperor's bedchamber all night, not daring to stop without his command.

As the pain in her fingertips becomes unbearable, the curtains before her suddenly stir.

The rumored tyrant has gentle features, though his brows are knit as if he is forcing himself to endure the pain.

He lowers his eyes to her fingertips and, after a long while, asks, "Doesn't it hurt?"

After that night, Lianqin is exceptionally promoted to Consort for her service. She is summoned night after night and becomes the envy of all.

But because of her low birth, she has no one close to her, even after months in the palace.

If she had to name someone, it would be the Fifth Prince, whose mother died when he was young. After she looks after him a few times, he starts greeting her with a sweet, sincere smile and calling her "Consort Qin."

*The following summer, Lianqin hears footsteps in the library of the summer palace.

Mistaking the person for the emperor, she approaches with a smile, only to meet a pair of eyes she knows all too well.

"A-Lian, wait for me a little longer... It won't be long now..."

Lianqin never imagined that Prince Ning, once so cold and indifferent, would one day pin her against the shelves in the emperor's library and kiss her almost uncontrollably, consequences be damned.

*Before she knows it, another winter has come. The emperor's migraines grow worse, and no medicine can cure them. Even her music is no help.

As he lies gravely ill, the emperor, still in his prime but worn and haggard, holds her hand and frets: "If I am gone, A-Lian has no child. Who will she be able to rely on?"

Lianqin lowers her eyes, but her mind drifts back to a few hours earlier, when the young Fifth Prince leaned close to her ear as the emperor slept after taking his medicine, whispering with dangerous intimacy: "If Father passes away, will you still choose Imperial Uncle, Consort Qin? Why... can't you choose me?"

Whom should she choose? Lianqin strokes the priceless jade bracelet on her wrist and frowns in troubled thought.

Now... it seems she could choose any of them.

[Reading Guide]

1. A self-indulgent, old-school melodrama, possibly full of landmines.

2. This isn't a contest to win the heroine's favor. The ending is undecided: one choice, everyone, or choosing herself.

3. I may add or cut scenes for the male leads based on the comments.

4. Feel free to criticize and offer suggestions, but no personal attacks.

Theme: Life is resilient and unbreakable.