After My Nemesis Ascended the Throne

My new novel, The Imperial Consort Could Never Not Love His Majesty, is now available. Please check it out!

The Eastern Palace was abolished, and Prince Zhao ascended the throne. In an instant, the entire court was turned upside down.

The officials bowed their heads, wondering how the new emperor would deal with the former crown prince's supporters, especially Gu Ningxi, the exceptionally talented second son of the Gu family.

Gu Ningxi had been the deposed crown prince's closest aide. And when His Majesty was exiled to Jizhou, the imperial edict had been penned by Gu Ningxi, then an editor at the Hanlin Academy.

In the imperial study, Gu Ningxi answered the summons.

The emperor, with power in his hands, idly toyed with a letter of resignation. "You want to request an appointment outside the capital?"

Gu Ningxi pressed her lips together. "Your subject is neither learned nor capable. I beg Your Majesty to grant my request."

Lu Jing's tone was indifferent. "It seems Yuanle is only willing to serve her elder brother."

Gu Ningxi lowered her eyes. "Your subject would not dare."

The Gu family was a prestigious clan with generations of official service and a grand household. Because they had once supported the deposed crown prince, they were treated coldly by the new regime.

The Gu family members in court had to tread carefully. After much discussion, the family decided to sacrifice Gu Ningxi, their pawn, to appease the emperor's anger and show that the Gu clan would submit.

Her father coldly informed her of the family's decision. Her mother, the only one who truly loved her, could only comfort her in private. "You'll only be declared dead in name. Once you've taken back your identity as a daughter, we'll bring you home and find you a good marriage."

She said nothing, shutting herself in her room for three days.

The sun rose, and just as when the Gu family had sent her to serve as the crown prince's study companion, she was once again left with no say in her own fate.

"Lord Gu, please come in."

The door to the imperial study closed behind her. Gu Ningxi knelt in the hall and made her request.

"Your subject wishes to remain in court."

The young ruler looked down at her. Beneath her crimson official robes, a jade belt accentuated her slender waist.

"What, then? Will you let me decide everything else?"

The hero's point of view

"A dear friend from childhood, yet she supported my elder brother and stood against me."

"The person I set my sights on naturally belongs to me."

"If she wants power, I can give her all she desires."

In the end, the emperor joked with his friend, "I'm nothing more than the empress's Great General for the Northern Campaign."

Reading Guide

1. An unconventional rebirth. The heroine's dreams show events from her previous life, and she will gradually regain some of those memories.

2. One-on-one romance, both leads have only ever been with each other.

The Imperial Consort Could Never Not Love His Majesty

In the third year of Jingrui, the emperor issued an edict naming Qian Jiawan, the legitimate daughter of Prince Yue, an imperial consort.

In private, Qian Jiawan was about seventy percent satisfied with the marriage. The rank of Imperial Consort was sufficiently prestigious; the empress dowager had died young, so there would be no mother-in-law; and the Grand Empress Dowager had been a close friend of her grandmother's and treated her with great affection.

As for the so-called husband, well, he was rather handsome.

On their wedding day, the emperor laid down three rules for her.

Behind her round fan, Qian Jiawan had to struggle to keep from smiling.

She would not have to fulfill the duties of an imperial consort, and she could still enjoy her stipend.

How could there be such a wonderful marriage in the whole world?

Fu Yunheng had inherited the throne while still young, taken charge of state affairs at sixteen, and held sole control of the court before he was twenty.

His imperial grandmother had chosen an imperial consort for him. He had assumed he was simply keeping an idle woman in the inner palace. As long as she knew her place, there would be room for her there.

For several months after their wedding, things went just as he had expected. His consort was gentle and sensible, and she knew how to behave.

The young woman was graceful and lively in every smile and frown, unmatched in beauty, and endlessly considerate toward him. She brought him nourishing soups and embroidered sachets, each stitch expressing her affection.

Although she hoped he would spend time with her, his consort never clung to him during his free hours. She was so obedient and thoughtful that it almost made his heart ache.

Fu Yunheng couldn't help thinking that he could spoil and indulge her a little more.

Three years after the imperial consort entered the palace, everyone said she was the emperor's favorite and that he had left the inner palace without another consort for her sake.

Though the imperial consort was not a noblewoman from the capital, the emperor was even prepared to defy the court's objections and make her empress.

But on the night before her birthday, Fu Yunheng stood by the window and heard his beloved laughing with her maid in the inner room.

"In another two years, I can gradually stop taking the medicine and have a prince. Once he's grown and made a prince, I'll go with him to his fief and live freely as the dowager princess. It would be best if we could live far from the capital, somewhere closer to Qiantang."

Her eyes shone with anticipation. On the other side of the wall, Fu Yunheng slowly clenched the edict naming her empress in his sleeve.

Later, in the golden hall, the beauty who had failed to leave the capital was held in the emperor's palm.

In the dimness of their bedchamber, Fu Yunheng's fingertips traced her lovely face inch by inch.

"Remember," he said, his gaze dark, "this is the only place that belongs to you."

Reading Guide

1. Both leads have only ever been with each other. The hero has no harem, in name or in fact.

2. No national or familial feud will come between the leads.

Theme: Struggle against fate