After Being Seized by a Tyrannical Emperor

A timid, adorable maid who clings to life x an emperor who is cool and indifferent in public, but obsessive and unhinged in private

A powerful man lowers his head | Devoted love | A wish-fulfillment story

Jiang Mu had been a beauty from a young age, but her family was too poor. Her otherworldly beauty became a burden instead. She was taken in by Madam Wang from her village, who planned to marry her off to her foolish son once he recovered from his illness.

Just then, the new emperor began ruling in his own right. The palace was empty, and the throne of empress was vacant. Hoping to ensure the royal family would soon have heirs, the Empress Dowager ordered beautiful young women to be selected from across the land.

The eunuch sent to recruit them refused to overlook any remote village in the Great Yu Empire. When he saw Jiang Mu's face, he was delighted, but his expression turned troubled when he heard she was half-deaf and half-mute.

Before long, Jiang Mu entered the palace in response to the decree...

and became a hardworking fire-tender in the imperial kitchens.

She thought that if she worked hard and ate well every day, she'd be released from the palace soon enough.

But by chance, her face caught the attention of Consort Wang, who had long since fallen out of favor. Consort Wang wanted Jiang Mu to sneak into the emperor's bedchamber at night so she could curry favor through her. After all, everyone thought Jiang Mu was a meek girl who couldn't speak.

She was just a palace maid. Once the plan succeeded, Consort Wang could give her some money and send her out of the palace.

But when Jiang Mu heard Consort Wang's plan, she was horrified and couldn't sleep a wink.

How could she keep everyone from discovering that she could hear and speak just fine, and had never been mute at all?

What Jiang Mu didn't realize was that someone else had seen through her long ago.

By day, he was always solemn and impeccably dressed. But every night, he would subtly, persistently try to lure her into his imperial bed.

Even after she refused him again and again, almost ready to swear her innocence with her life, the man who ruled the world gazed at her with bloodshot eyes and finally lost control.

*

Wei Qiye was a young emperor, as radiant as a deity and revered by all the officials at court.

The first time life disappointed him

was when he devoted himself to governing, only for his mother to force him to marry and take concubines.

The second time life disappointed him

was when he finally picked a palace maid to satisfy his needs, only for her to lower her tearful face and tremblingly reject, again and again, the rank, power, and endless favor he offered her.

At first, Wei Qiye thought she was just playing hard to get.

In the end, he had to grit his teeth and admit that in Jiang Mu's eyes, he, the emperor of Great Yu, was no different from a beggar by the roadside or a bandit on a mountain.

1. Both leads are virgins.

2. The male lead is obsessive and willful. He takes the female lead by force and loves no one but her! She is his one and only favorite!

3. A wish-fulfillment story set against a palace-intrigue backdrop.

Check out my new ongoing novel, The Eastern Palace's Captive:

[Love by force | True and false princesses | Secret, dark desire | Fake half-siblings | 1v1 | Both leads are virgins]

Wen Siyi was born the most treasured pearl of Great Yong.

At sixteen, she was the third princess, cherished by the emperor and consort. Beautiful and flamboyant, she could do whatever she pleased. No noble girl in all of Shangling dared to compete with her.

At the height of her arrogance, she trampled the birthday gift sent by the crown prince, her half-brother: a string of sandalwood prayer beads.

Across the astonished crowd, his handsome, pale face remained expressionless. He softly called her childhood nickname: "Jiaojiao."

She couldn't understand his tone then, and had no interest in trying.

On the day of her seventeenth birthday banquet, the real third princess was brought back to the palace.

Amid the mocking, teasing looks around her, Siyi felt fear for the first time in her life.

She had nothing left...

Even her life had only been spared because the true princess, lovely as carved ice and jade, had pleaded for her with tearful eyes.

"Today is a happy day for a family reunion. How could we kill anyone? Why not spare my sister's life?"

Everyone who had once followed her turned against her. Even her cousin, the young lord who had loved her to the very depths of his soul, broke off their engagement on the spot.

Siyi must have been truly desperate when, on a stormy night, she tearfully knocked on the door of a palace she'd rarely set foot in before.

The man stood beneath the eaves with an umbrella, his deep, dark eyes watching her drenched and disheveled figure with indifference.

"Crown Prince, Brother..."

Proud as she was, this was the first time she'd ever humbled herself to call him that.

The hand holding the umbrella twitched slightly, and a hint of mockery curled his lips.

"Little sister, is this how you beg for help?"

Everyone said the heir was kind and compassionate, and had spared her out of consideration for their past.

But only she knew...

that a windowless, airtight chamber had appeared in the Eastern Palace.

And how, every night, the man who was elegant and refined by day, as lovely as jade and divine as an immortal, would hold her captive in his arms, murmuring her childhood nickname as he drove her step by step into a corner with no escape.

His slender, delicate fingers traced her chin, just as she had once toyed with those prayer beads.

His breath was sweet as orchids. "Didn't you always look down on me?"

Then he brushed away her tears one by one:

"So why do you cry and beg me to cherish you every day now?"

Siyi regretted everything, but could only watch as he taught her how to survive by turning herself, step by step, into a plaything dependent on someone else.

The heir everyone revered was no immortal sage at all. He was a madman who had coveted her for years, dark and vile to the core!

How could she have been so stupid as to provoke him?

-

Wen Qixuan was the crown prince, praised by sages for his upright composure and respected by officials for his integrity and jade-like character.

But no one knew what thoughts lay hidden beneath such serene restraint.

He had once hated her most of all.

He hated the girl who was always spoiled and bright as a spring breeze, hated how she gradually stole their father's affection, hated how her mother schemed against his own...

And most of all, he hated her smiling, charming eyes.

Later, hatred slowly took root.

He hated that she gave her smiles to everyone else, hated how affectionately she called other people's names. He hated that she never paid him any attention.

Most of all, he hated himself, forced night after night to suppress those filthy, unspeakable thoughts.

A few content notes:

1. The leads have different fathers and different mothers, and are not related by blood. The male lead learns of the female lead's background before anyone else. They have no romantic feelings for each other while they are considered relatives.

2. The male lead is cold and unfeeling at first. Once he falls for her, he becomes darkly obsessive. He tries to control himself but can't, and can only lose himself to madness. The female lead is spoiled and willful at first, and is engaged to the second male lead. Later, she pretends to go along with the male lead to stay alive. Neither lead is a perfect person.

3. Old-school melodrama, 1v1, with a heavy emphasis on love by force. The characters' views are limited by their feudal setting. Enjoy the story, but don't project it onto real life.

Theme: A good attitude determines everything