My Creepy Stepbrother Has His Eye on Me

[Female Lead Is Not a Virgin, Love and Hatred Entwined, Second Male Lead Chases His Wife to the Crematorium, First Male Lead Fights to Win Her, Brooding Ghostly Man Goes Mad for Love]

Ruan Qiutang took her half-sister's place in marrying into the Marquis's household. For the past three years, she had balanced firmness with kindness, cared for her husband, and dutifully served her mother-in-law. In the eyes of outsiders, she was the very model of a noble household's mistress.

But a month ago, while her husband was fighting on the frontier, the widow with whom he'd had a brief encounter came to their door, claiming she was looking for the father of her unborn child. The marquis pitied the widow and kept her in a house outside the manor, visiting her often and rarely setting foot at home.

Overnight, Ruan Qiutang became the laughingstock of the capital. To save face, she accepted her husband's mistress into the manor. She never imagined she'd let a wolf into the house. One step back, and she became a discarded wife. The marquis's household rejected her, her reputation was ruined, and the child in her womb was reduced to a pool of blood...

*

After she was cast aside, she lived in seclusion at home, almost cut off from the world and avoiding all company.

Until one day, she ran into her drunken stepbrother. His eyes fixed on her as if he meant to devour her whole!

One reckless night left her so ashamed she wanted to die.

But her stepbrother said coldly, "Don't try to kill yourself. I'll marry you."

*

After she married her stepbrother, her former husband, the marquis, refused to accept it. He often came to demand an explanation, but was turned away every time.

Ruan Qiutang knew nothing of this until one day she accidentally entered her stepbrother's study. There she saw the marquis sprawled miserably beneath him, while her stepbrother ground his heel into the marquis's knuckles and said viciously:

"How do you think that widow found you?"

"Come here looking to die again, and I'll make sure you get your wish."

[Content Warning]

The male lead is the adopted son of the female lead's family and has no blood relation to her. He has a hidden identity that will be revealed later as the story progresses.

My next novel will be "Tempting the Eastern Palace." Here's the blurb:

Jiang Fu was a liar.

She kept saying she was madly in love with her childhood sweetheart, then turned around and married his father.

A red-topped sedan chair, draped in the night's glow, carried her through the palace gates.

The young man tried to storm the palace, but the guards stopped him. He dug his fingers into the doorframe until his nails split and blood welled up.

After that night, the young man disappeared.

Some said the emperor disliked him and banished him beyond the passes.

Yet whenever Jiang Fu woke from a midnight dream, she could still recall the young man's crazed, shadowed gaze on the night she entered the palace.

*

The emperor fell gravely ill and summoned the young man back to the capital.

Not long after, the young man was named crown prince.

The spirited youth she once knew was gone, replaced by a crown prince whom everyone feared and revered.

Yet whenever he happened to see her, he would call her "Your Highness" in a casual tone, his gaze full of loathing and not the slightest trace of respect.

*

The emperor died, and the whole nation mourned.

Consorts without children were to be buried with him.

No matter how glorious their lives had been, they were now to become burial offerings. Jiang Fu was one of them.

But Jiang Fu did not want to die.

Dressed in plain mourning clothes and carrying a carefully prepared food box, she knocked on the Eastern Palace's door.

His love surged, and so did his hatred.

All night, the storm raged without letting up.

Jiang Fu's clear eyes took on a bewitching look. "Your Highness, have you calmed down?"

His expression darkened at once. His thin lips brushed her ear as he murmured hoarsely, "A Fu, how could that possibly be enough?"

Theme: Treat others sincerely, and do good whenever you can.