After the Political Marriage, I Became the Enemy Nation's Beloved

In Nan Jin, Lian Zhi had a title without equal throughout the land: the Princess Who Guards the Nation.

The people of Nan Jin revered and honored her. They even built temples and gilded statues in her image, worshipping her as a deity.

But in truth, Lian Zhi had never lived a single day of a princess's life.

She had to rise before the sun each morning,

and stay up long after the moon had gone to sleep,

all to serve her half-sister, the one who truly enjoyed every luxury a princess could have.

And when necessary, Lian Zhi had to make sacrifices for her, too.

Like now, when she had to marry the new ruler of Bei Yi in place of her half-sister, under the name of the Grand Princess Who Guards the Nation.

He was a truly formidable man. In just half a year after ascending the throne, he had forced Nan Jin to sue for peace and send a princess to marry him. The lacquered human-head vessel by his pillow was one he had personally carved from a prisoner's neck, all while smiling.

On the night she was to attend him, Lian Zhi was terrified. She secretly hid a pair of scissors in her sleeve. The sharp blade wounded him, and her, too.

As crimson blood ran down his arm, Lian Zhi saw him smile.

When the devil smiles, someone's going to die!

Lian Zhi's heart sank. She closed her eyes and waited for death.

But what came was not death. He tore off a strip of his priceless dragon robe, lifted her hand, and bandaged it for her. His smiling eyes held the tender glow of a bright moon, shining more brilliantly than the river of stars above.