The General Is Actually a Young Lady

(My sentinel-guide novel next door, The Rabbit Guide Wants to Slack Off Every Day, is now underway. Please support it, darlings!)

◎ Unmatched in combat, resilient, gentle noblewoman x frail, sweet-on-the-outside but dark-within, mad prince

◎ Clear-eyed realist x self-deluding schemer

Her father, the Duke of Wei, earned the title of Great General at just seventeen. Her mother was descended from a prestigious noble family. As the only legitimate daughter of the Chus, Chu Suwan was born into a position of unparalleled status.

Not long after, Chu Suwan put down the yellowed storybook her brother had somehow dug up for her, sighed at the heavens, then burst out laughing.

She had to hand it to the author: they had even given her a character prequel. The postscript was even more incisive:

The duke's legitimate daughter had a father with a severed arm, a mother from a fallen family, and a sickly brother. Together, they made her a broken girl.

But so what? Chu Suwan said.

The Duke of Wei's household had withdrawn from court, but no one had ever said they were easy prey. If all it took was fighting a war, then so be it. Her brother wasn't suited to it, so she would do it herself.

Chu Suwan changed into men's clothes, accepted the imperial decree, and never once looked back along the way.

The Wugu of the warring state thought Liang had sent them a "sickly weakling" and paid her no mind.

When their opponent won once, they were sure their own people had let her win.

When she won a second time, they put it down to luck.

After losing count of how many times, Wugu fled home in disgrace.

Good heavens, she wasn't a sickly weakling at all. She was a beautiful-faced grim reaper.

But Chu Suwan no longer had any time for them.

She saved a man at the border.

He was the Third Prince of Liang. He told her that the neighboring nation had suddenly invaded, plunging the people into misery, because powerful nobles had colluded to fight for power.

Chu Suwan: ...

She had spent months braving the elements, only to be told this was all just a family feud?

The young general, with his hair tied in a high ponytail and clad in silver armor, lightly held a white handkerchief in his slender, pale hand. He slowly wiped the Moon-Reflecting Sword, its blade glinting with a dark sheen. His serene face gradually blossomed into a peerlessly beautiful smile.

Just watch her put these fools in their place.

But after she was made a marquis, reclaimed her identity as a woman, and retired after accomplishing her mission, why wouldn't her ally, now successfully installed as crown prince, let her go?

At first, Chu Suwan didn't really understand what he meant.

Until he pinned her in a corner, his scorching fingertips gently brushing her cheek as he asked in a tantalizing voice, "Would you become my Crown Princess?"

Only then did Chu Suwan understand.

It turned out he wanted more than the throne. He wanted her, too.

What happened to that sincere brotherly bond they promised?

The sinister prince: "But you like me too!" (weeping)

Chu Suwan, utterly baffled: "Didn't you say we were just friends?"

PS (content notes):

1. Set in an invented historical world, so don't expect historical accuracy.

2. A light ensemble cast, plot-focused, with a slow-burn romance, political intrigue, and investigations. A fun, light read. The political machinations may be a little naive, so just enjoy them for fun, darlings. (It's my first time writing this, sob. My brain hasn't quite started storming yet.)

3. A strong female lead. She is at the peak of martial prowess and sharp-witted. The male lead is deeply calculating and scheming. They test and tease each other before becoming each other's support and walking side by side.

4. The male lead is actually a lovesick fool, secretly persuading himself that the heroine can't live without him. He's also a bit delicate. Though skilled in martial arts, his constitution is poor, so the heroine often has to save him. He gives off the impression of a husband relying on his wife's strength. But! (Important point!) He's still very strong in bed.

#Preview of my upcoming sentinel-guide harem Mary Sue novel, The Rabbit Guide Wants to Slack Off Every Day

Blurb:

Wuyou is an agent who likes to slack off.

During a mission, she accidentally dies while goofing off.

When she opens her eyes again, she isn't in hell, but in a world steeped in ancient style. Wait... Isn't this supposed to be ancient times? Why are there demons, and why are humans divided into sentinels and guides? Has this world mutated?

In this world, she's still an orphan, and one with missing memories at that.

Hoping she might be able to keep slacking off, Wuyou goes to the White Tower in the Central Empire for testing.

Just as she'd hoped, she becomes a healing guide. She's only an E-rank, but healing guides are rare, so she gets a stable job at the White Tower, practically a government position.

With a decent salary, free meals and lodging, and a job that involves seeing handsome men of all kinds every day and cuddling cute animal spirit companions, Wuyou is happy again. Isn't this way better than being a lousy agent who risks her life every day? Besides, her old boss was a cheapskate.

Her new boss is generous, and handsome, too.

But the good times don't last. After being beguiled by a beautiful face, Wuyou rescues a gorgeous sentinel by the roadside and drinks a few sips of dew from his peony spirit companion. Suddenly, her E-rank guide secret identity is exposed.

Her spiritual power surges through the cage she'd specially built, and her guide rank jumps to A+, one step away from the legendary S-rank dark guide in the healing class.

Her little white rabbit spirit companion grows even more adorable and silly.

The S-rank sentinels who had once kept their distance because of the rank mismatch, along with newcomers drawn in by her scent, arrive one after another, surrounding the little rabbit guide's door. Their possessive desire grows ever more obvious in their eyes.

But to avoid biting the little rabbit's neck and leaving a private mark,

the S-rank sentinels, human weapons raised by the Tower and hailed as the Blades of the Apocalypse, can only hide their fangs and bend their tall, slender bodies. They press restrained kisses beside her tender lips, begging for her favor.

They are the nightmare of the aberrants, the madmen people speak of in hushed tones.

They are also poor souls waiting for her to favor them.

And they couldn't be happier.

One day, the aberrants launch a surprise attack.

The sentinel, who had been cuddling with the little rabbit, kisses her forehead and softly reassures her before leaving, his eyes full of bloodlust.

Wuyou blinks her misty almond-shaped eyes. She wipes the sticky fluid from her neck with a fingertip covered in red marks and watches the sentinel's tall figure disappear.

Mm, looks like it's time to show them what she can do.

After all, she was an agent who made it through hellish training and selection.

Little rabbit agent, move out!

Theme: Life offers more than one choice.