I Provoked a Madman

At the Mid-Autumn Banquet, the neglected hostage prince caught the eye of Qi Yue's Fourth Princess. She forced him to become her consort.

Rumor had it that the Fourth Princess was spoiled and tyrannical, fond of handsome men, cruel and vicious, ugly beyond compare, licentious, and guilty of countless misdeeds.

So, despite the princess's repeated efforts to please him, the hostage remained cold as ice.

A year later, however, the hostage's country had grown increasingly powerful. The crown prince had gone missing, making the hostage the sole heir, while Qi Yue was caught in a war and needed reinforcements. Their positions had completely reversed.

The princess asked for a divorce, begging only that he not hold her past mistakes against her.

The usually cold hostage stared fixedly at her.

"Have you found someone new?"

The heroine's perspective:

The noble Princess Changle woke up to find her world turned upside down. A man had been delivered to her residence. It turned out she had done something reckless while drunk.

Once she had calmed down, Changle narrowed her eyes. She had someone in her dreams, like the moon reflected on the sea, like a pine beneath the moon: a man of unyielding character and a mind full of books. Sadly, the young man aspired to great heights and refused to sacrifice his future by marrying a princess. If that was the case, then she, Nian Jihua, didn't have to spend her life insisting on him, either.

So she decided to make the best of the situation, turning to sweetly coax the consort she had somehow tied to herself, in the hope of putting her old dream behind her.

Unfortunately, her new consort seemed to detest her.

When she wasn't in love, his coldness couldn't hurt her. Even though Xie Shirong was as cold as ice, Changle could still speak gently to him and indulge his every whim, ignoring his scowls. A lifetime was long, and she had plenty of patience.

But before even a fraction of that lifetime had passed, their positions abruptly reversed. Xie Shirong, once an unloved hostage, became the sole heir to a neighboring country, while her own country was plunged into war.

Changle no longer dared to force Xie Shirong into anything. She only hoped he would be magnanimous and let bygones be bygones.

But when she asked for a divorce, her consort, who had always detested her, grabbed hold of her.

"You ask for a divorce, and that's that? Are you really so cold and heartless?"

He pressed her hand to his chest. The heart inside was pounding.

Changle was just about to make an excuse when the man from her old dream came back, asking to make amends and start over.

Xie Shirong's usually calm eyes turned as deep as a frigid pool:

You treated me as a substitute.

Changle: I can explain... probably.

The hero's perspective:

At the Mid-Autumn Banquet, the drunk princess said she loved him and forced him to become her consort.

The princess was notorious, and he disliked her, so he met her with a cold face.

But on their wedding night, he saw the person beneath the veil: graceful brows, radiant as a lotus, delicate and soft, with beauty enough to topple kingdoms. So the rumors that she was ugly were lies. The princess was spoiled, yet adored by everyone in her household. So the rumors that she was tyrannical were lies. When children on the street insulted her, she gave them toys she had made herself. So the rumors that she was cruel and vicious were lies. After their marriage, there wasn't a single male lover in the household. So the rumors that she was licentious were lies.

As for her fondness for handsome men, Xie Shirong recalled the way the princess looked at him and felt his ears turn red. That rumor, at least, was true.

So what? To fall for someone because of his face was shallow indeed.

But a year later, she wanted a divorce and had taken a male lover. It turned out he was merely a substitute in the princess's heart.

A substitute? Xie Shirong's placid eyes roiled like a raging sea. Since she had drawn him in, she would spend the rest of this life with him and him alone.

Theme: Cherish the person before you