Pregnant with the Crown Princess's Child

Blurb:

Chen Yao is the legitimate daughter of the Cangzhou prefect. She is stunningly beautiful, but hardly the demure young lady one might expect. Devoted to martial arts, outspoken and carefree, she dreams of becoming a female general and heading north to fight the Rong.

She was betrothed as a child to Xu Boyu, son of Xu Changying, a general under Prince Yan. Now sixteen and nearing her wedding day, she has been confined to the family estate by her father to prepare for the marriage.

She is determined to join the army and has no desire to marry, but she cannot defy her father's orders. Then she learns something shocking.

Her future husband, Xu Boyu, keeps a mistress and has a son with her.

Furious, Chen Yao confronts her father. He knows the truth, yet insists that she go through with the marriage.

Unable to bear it, Chen Yao comes up with a daring idea:

[If he dares to keep a mistress, why should I save myself for him?]

So Chen Yao disguises herself as a man, visits the Pleasure Pavilion, finds a handsome male courtesan, and loses her virginity.

*

Princess Zhaoyang, Li Michun, is the emperor's younger sister by the same mother. She is peerlessly beautiful and unmatched in martial arts. At sixteen, she was already fighting on the battlefield and had won countless honors. Though a woman, she enjoys the rank and privileges of a feudal prince. The late emperor granted her the fief of Qin, and she is also known as Prince Qin.

The late Emperor Wu was the founding emperor. Zhaoyang was his favorite daughter during his reign. After his death, Li Michun took control of the Imperial Guards, purged the court, and helped her elder brother, Li Cong, seize the throne, while raising her birth mother, Consort Shu, to the position of empress dowager.

Consort Shu got her wish and became empress dowager. Her greatest regret was that she had chosen the wrong son.

She had given birth to twin princes, so she raised the younger one as a girl, passing him off as a sign of good fortune and earning herself prestige.

Her eldest son, Li Cong, was an utter fool and a good-for-nothing.

The younger son was clever, but she had been giving him secret medicine since childhood to suppress his masculine traits. As a result, he was impotent and unable to have children.

After the previous emperor's death, Li Michun grew ever more twisted in temperament. She delighted in torture and most enjoyed watching people suffer beyond the point of endurance.

The entire court trembles in fear at the mere mention of the princess's name.

Li Michun comes to Cangzhou to investigate Prince Yan's alleged rebellion. By chance, she finds herself with a warm, fragrant beauty in her arms and experiences, for the first time, what it feels like to be a man.

Note:

Both leads are virgins.

Set in a fictionalized Ming-style world.

Theme: Stay true to yourself and face life with courage.