After Marrying the Ailing Crown Prince

My next book will be The Grand Princess's Blessings. The blurb is at the end. Please add it to your collection.

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Shen Shining never dreamed she would turn out to be the legitimate daughter of the prime minister's family, lost and raised elsewhere.

And when the prime minister's family and the Eastern Palace arranged a marriage, she became the one sent to take another bride's place.

She was surprised and delighted, thinking she'd struck it lucky. But only after meeting the crown prince, rumored to be sickly, gloomy, sensitive, and suspicious, did she realize that the Eastern Palace was a far more dangerous place than the prime minister's mansion.

On their wedding night, the crown prince wore a pale, frail face and said, "We got married without going through the proper rites. It doesn't count."

Shining was furious but didn't dare say so. She could only gather up her wedding clothes and slink off to the neighboring courtyard.

More than a month after marrying into the Eastern Palace, she had seen the crown prince only two or three times.

The palace attendants whispered that he had suffered from an incurable illness since childhood and was bound to lose his position as crown prince sooner or later. Rumors also said he was temperamental, and the slightest misstep could get someone killed.

She spent those days walking on eggshells and weighing every word, terrified of accidentally angering the unpredictable crown prince.

The next spring, the emperor held a banquet at Lantai. Shining accompanied the crown prince and ran into her childhood sweetheart. He had since passed the palace examinations in third place and become one of the most sought-after new officials at court.

Late that night, the crown prince, who never waited for her outside the courtyard, stood there for the first time. Seeing her return to the palace in high spirits, he couldn't resist sneering, "The crown princess seemed to have quite the lively conversation with Miss Cui's fiance."

Shining paused. "At least I wasn't still pining for someone else's fiance, Your Highness."

*

Although Chu Jing was the crown prince, he knew his position was one his mother had bought with her life.

Then, for no apparent reason, a foolish crown princess was married off to him. Every day she either read romance novels or flew kites by the lake, and whenever she saw him, she went out of her way to avoid him like he was a ghost.

He should have hated this pawn, but every night he greedily drew warmth from her, clinging to her like a dying man grasping at a lifeline.

When he learned about her past with the top scholar, he nearly went mad with rage. His pale face was set off by blood-red eyes, and he all but ground out the words, "If he wants to be a loyal subject to only one ruler, then I refuse to let him have his way!"

Everywhere in the palace hall were traces she had left behind: her crooked handwriting on the desk, peonies she'd carefully arranged in a vase, even the rosy pink bedding on the bed.

At that moment, he found himself wanting something he had never wanted before.

He wanted to live to a hundred.

--Coming soon--

The Grand Princess's Blessings: Married First, Love Later / Rebirth

The arrogant, flamboyant grand princess died on her twenty-third birthday. That night, she was hanged with a white silk sash from the plum tree outside Qiuyuan Palace by imperial order.

The only person who came to see her off was her sworn enemy, Pei Xun, Duke of Anguo.

Dressed in black, Pei Xun blended into the night. His cold eyes seemed to hold a thousand unspoken words.

"If there's another life, don't be born into the Li family."

Li Xiyan had spent half her life plotting for her younger brother. He ascended the throne at ten, while the princes in the various regions watched like hungry tigers. That same year, at fifteen, Li Xiyan took charge of the court as regent, serving with all her heart and strength.

The world had changed, and Pei Xun had worked against her. Yet she never expected to die because her own brother suspected her.

Fortunately, Heaven took pity on her, and she was reborn at eighteen, the most difficult year of her life, and the year Pei Xun proposed to her.

She had refused him in her previous life. This time, she would use Pei Xun to get revenge on everyone!

After they married, she kept male lovers at the manor and caroused night after night just to spite Pei Xun. To her surprise, he didn't mind at all. Instead, he smiled gently. "A new troupe has arrived in Linyuan. The young actor leading it is quite handsome. Shall I invite him to the manor?"

That night, dozens of handsome men stood in front of the bed.

He'd gone mad! They'd all gone mad!

Pei Xun looked at her smugly. "Grand Princess, how am I doing as your consort?"

Li Xiyan ground her teeth and laughed. "You're doing wonderfully!"

"It's a shame," Pei Xun said, the corner of his mouth lifting. "I can only be your consort until you turn twenty-three."

Li Xiyan's pupils contracted. What the hell, this man was reborn too!?

*

Pei Xun had died in his previous life because of the young emperor's suspicions. He had known it was his fate.

But in this new life, the grand princess who had always opposed him seemed different. She'd even agreed to the marriage proposal she'd once rejected for no apparent reason.

The two of them got along well enough, even if she occasionally caused a scene at the manor. He could not only put up with it, but even help her out.

Maybe they could make a life together...

Theme: Walk hand in hand through hardship and save each other