The Official Husband (Female-Dom Society)

In the spring of the fourth year of Guangping, Prince Huai'an raised an army in rebellion. He was defeated and executed, and his entire household was implicated.

His newly wedded second wife brought her young son and, hoping to win a chance of survival for her parents and kin, made her way through the layers of palace barriers and knelt before the young emperor.

In the pouring night rain, he knelt trembling on the golden hall, his clothes soaked through. With lovely brows lowered, he bowed his head and bared his neck, his slender nape easy to break, begging for mercy from the supreme sovereign.

"This servant is guilty. I beg Your Majesty to show me mercy..."

In the imperial hall, the cold moon shone like frost. Candlelight flickered red, shadows swayed across emerald-green curtains, and the beauty was like jade.

The young emperor slowly walked behind him, gripped his chin, and forced him to look up at the bronze mirror. His clothes had been stripped away, his skin was whiter than snow, and his expression was dazed with desire.

Her voice was like cold snow, chilling to the bone.

"As the husband of Prince Huai'an, you have committed a heinous crime. You must pay some price for it."

That day, Shen Huaiying had a bizarre, absurd dream.

In the dream, she coveted her ministers' husbands, persecuted loyal subjects, and lived a life of debauchery. Prince Huai'an, Shen Huaiyu, stabbed her to death on the throne.

Her lifelong obsession had become a demon, yet all it did was earn Prince Huai'an Shen Huaiyu and his second wife's husband a reputation as a perfect match.

When Shen Huaiying awoke, she found the whole thing ridiculous. She ruled the world and was praised by all her people. How could an ordinary man unsettle her heart?

Until that snowy night, when Shen Huaiying picked up a red plum branch and held on to its lingering fragrance.

The panicked man looked like a young deer dusted with snow. He tremulously blurted out, "Sister-in-law," then fled.

Shen Huaiying touched the lingering warmth in her palm and smiled down at it. "Sister-in-law."

She slowly crushed the red plum in her hand, its broken petals like blood falling onto flawless white snow.

"You may call me wife, or sister, but never sister-in-law."

"Jiang Lianyin, that is your greatest crime."

You will have to repay me a thousandfold, ten thousandfold.

Shen Huaiying took a married convict as her consort. With beauties filling the imperial harem, everyone assumed their capricious emperor had simply taken a passing fancy and wanted a little amusement.

Only when the emperor, who had spent years governing diligently and working late into the night, abandoned her harem for him and placed the phoenix seal in his hands did they realize that the obsession in her heart had long since become a demon.

A cold-hearted, sharp-tongued emperor who shows little kindness x a steadfast, kind-hearted little white flower

Reader's guide:

1. Female lead tops, male lead bottoms. Don't ask me how it works. It just does.

2. The child at the start is not the male lead's.

3. Matriarchal society with male pregnancy, with some liberties taken regarding childbirth (inspired by The Substitute Husband Ran Away While Pregnant and The Little Concubine).

4. The female lead has a harem early on and a collecting habit (yeah). It ends with one-on-one romance. The main plot begins in the middle.

5. No two women competing for one man. There's more to it.

I've changed the female lead's characterization and name! I'm not writing a crazy antihero anymore. She's a fairly typical emperor.

Theme: Admitting your mistakes and making amends is the greatest virtue.