The Noble Consort’s Palace

Substitute bride and imperial consort x powerful minister and sworn elder brother

[Possessive pursuit / groveling redemption / faux siblings]

[He thought she was a pawn in his hand,

never imagining she would turn his carefully laid plans upside down.]

Liu Zhaoyi was sold into a brothel by her stepmother.

That night, a man took her away from the brothel and settled her in a villa outside the capital.

She thought he was a customer who had gotten drunk on pleasure, and assumed he was keeping her as a mistress.

So she boldly asked him if he could rescue her younger sister, who was scraping by under her stepmother's thumb.

The next day, the man sent her a letter from her sister. It said a kind person had adopted her, and she was now free from their stepmother's abuse.

For the next two years, she was made to study music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, as well as how to please a man. The days passed, and she was kept there for two years without ever seeing him.

Until one day, the man came and asked her, "Do you know how to please a man?"

To secure her place, win her master's favor, and reunite with her sister, she nodded. "This concubine does."

The man pinched her chin and pulled her into his arms. "Then please me."

Her hands, braced against his chest, relaxed. Soft and pliant, they slid inside his robes, teasing him to the utmost...

That night, she used every trick she'd learned in the pleasure quarter. Her hairpin fell to the floor, her clothes hung loose, and she was exhausted, yet she still couldn't make the man lose control.

He pushed her half-naked body away and straightened his clothes with a cold laugh. "You're not skilled enough yet. Keep practicing."

Her face burned with humiliation. She was ashamed and furious, but didn't dare speak up.

*

Xiahou Xian left the villa and returned to his carriage, soaked in sweat. Only he knew how difficult it had been to hold back his desire for her.

He couldn't touch her. She was just a pawn in his hands, one he planned to train for several years before taking her as his sworn younger sister and having her replace the Xiahou family's legitimate daughter as bride to the puppet emperor.

But after she truly entered the imperial harem, he watched her fawn over the puppet again and again, and even try to escape his control. He could no longer hold back.

*

Xiahou Xian slipped into her bedchamber at night and pinned her against the bed. "Have you forgotten that I'm your master?"

In her panic, Liu Zhaoyi grabbed the gold-inlaid dagger he'd given her as part of her dowry from beneath her pillow and held it to his neck.

He said coldly, "If you have the nerve, kill me. By tomorrow morning, the entire palace will know the Grand Pillar of State died in the imperial consort's bed."

Full blurb archived on 2024/9/09

[Content warnings]

* Powerful minister x imperial consort, faux siblings

* Substitute bride trope, married woman trope

* Angsty push and pull, possessive pursuit

* Powerful man brought low, dom/sub training trope

* Over-the-top melodrama, a cheesy love story

Theme: Learn to love