After the Gloomy, Beautiful Eunuch Married Me [GB]

Frailing, beautiful princess × handsome, brooding eunuch

The first time I saw the young eunuch was in the laundry room of the Yeting Palace.

He knelt on the cold stone slabs, scrubbing palace robes. His profile was as pale as the finest white jade, and the corners of his eyes were faintly red.

The palace servants deliberately splashed him with cold water and mocked him for his feminine looks. Soaked through, the young eunuch merely wiped the water from his face in silence, his lashes lowered, like a blade of grass trampled underfoot.

I was furious and punished the servants who had splashed him.

When the young eunuch looked up at me, he wore a pitiful expression. He bowed his head to pay his respects, and those beautiful eyes held not the slightest warmth, only icy malice.

My heart softened at the sight, and I took him into my service. My mother and the matrons all laughed at me for taking in such a taciturn boy.

*

I was born frail, and he often stayed by my bedside to prepare my medicine. He was attentive to my every need, never daring to stray too far from my bed, even when he dozed.

Back then, I always thought the gloom in his eyes had to be an act.

Deep down, this young eunuch must be soft-hearted.

But the matron always said he was devious and warned me to be on my guard.

After years of taking medicine and languishing in bed, I had long since made peace with life and death. I thought that if I were to die one day, the young eunuch would need someone to rely on. It was good for him to be resourceful, so I didn't pay much attention.

I was naive after all. It was only natural that I would be betrayed.

Later, the young eunuch became a favorite of His Majesty, basking in glory and wielding enough power to dare keep a princess under house arrest in his manor.

When he warmed wine for me, he would often let the mottled scars beneath his wrist show.

Though he was now immensely powerful, he still begged me to love and pity him like a stray cat that nobody wanted.

At night, he would shamelessly pant in my ear and whisper, "Your Highness is this servant's heaven. Please be kind to this servant."

Everything changed when I caught him doing something unspeakable in the secret chamber.

Before a wall covered in familiar portraits of women, the young eunuch used the dagger he had once tried to stab me with to deftly cut his own palm.

Hearing a noise, he turned around. When he saw it was me, he stopped pretending to be so frail and helpless. Instead, he advanced step by step, pressing his bloodied hand against my face as he rasped:

"Your Highness wanted to know whether this servant's heart is cold or warm, didn't you?"

"Would you like to cut it out with your own hands and see?"

(Blurb written on September 7, 2025. To be revised.)

Theme: Confidence is worth its weight in gold