[Honest and upright female official x brooding, obsessive emperor]
[Coercive romance / chasing his wife to the crematorium / the powerful bowing their heads / emperor steals his minister's wife]
At some point, she began to fear seeing His Majesty.
As a court historian, Zhu Liuhui was already a married woman.
Her husband was an editor at the Hanlin Academy. Though their life was modest after marriage, he treated her with great tenderness, and their days were warm and content.
The current emperor, Li Xiaoyu, was unpredictable. His harem stood empty and the empress's seat was vacant, yet he always liked to linger outside her window.
Whenever she bent over her desk to revise the historical records, she could feel his scorching gaze, leaving her restless and ill at ease.
One day, after court was dismissed, the civil and military officials filed out in a steady stream.
Zhu Liuhui was about to leave when the chief eunuch hurried over. "Historian Zhu, His Majesty summons you."
Uneasy, she walked down the long corridor between the palace buildings and entered the bedchamber.
Amid the drifting steam, Li Xiaoyu had just finished bathing and casually thrown on a robe. Sitting at ease in a round-backed chair, he smiled. "Come forward and attend me tonight."
"Your servant is a historian, not a concubine in the imperial harem..."
Before she could finish, he cut her off. "I am the law."
His offhand words sent a chill down her spine.
Helplessly accepting her fate, she closed her eyes and tremblingly undid the jade belt at her waist...
*
From then on, Zhu Liuhui lived in unending fear.
Once, while she was eating, palace attendants came to summon her again.
Her husband gently urged her to finish dinner before going. She dared not meet his eyes. Making up an urgent matter at the Historiography Office, she fled in a panic.
Until one day, she learned she was pregnant.
Zhu Liuhui's hand trembled as it rested on her belly. This child was clearly the emperor's. How could she explain it to her husband?
When His Majesty learned of it, she was immediately confined to the palace.
"Since you're carrying my child, stay in the palace and rest easy while you await the birth." Li Xiaoyu brought over a bowl of ginseng tea and fed it to her himself.
She swallowed a mouthful and hurried to speak. "Your Majesty, my husband..."
"Don't mention that man again!" He suddenly smashed the teacup to the floor and said coldly, "Now that you're in my bed, you should understand your place."
With no one to turn to for help, she secretly traced words in cinnabar in the margins of the history books she was compiling.
Then, despairing, she hid a message in the first characters: Save me.
*
Li Xiaoyu had long seen through all her struggles.
He had admired this female historian for a long time, and had kept the entire harem empty, hoping she would turn back to him. But she had chosen to live in harmony with that Hanlin Academy editor, with room in her heart for no one but her husband.
If she wouldn't come to him willingly, he would take her by force.
Watching her tremble as she undid her sash of her own accord, he felt a twisted delight.
So what if she was married?
He was the Son of Heaven. What was there that he couldn't have?
When the imperial physician reported that she was pregnant, Li Xiaoyu put down his book and calmly ordered his secret guards, "Get rid of her husband. Leave behind a letter of divorce."
The young emperor lowered his eyes, gently brushed his fingers over the words of her plea for help, and laughed softly.
Reader advisory:
1. Originally titled I Want Her to Become a Widow. Honest and upright female official x brooding, obsessive emperor.
2. Happy ending. The female lead is not a virgin, the male lead is. The female lead has a husband.
3. The dynasty is fictional. Please don't nitpick historical accuracy.
Theme: Love helps people grow together.
