Trapped in a Besieged City

My new novel, After the Dark, Damp Minister Deceived Me in Body and Heart, is now available. Welcome to read it!

A scheming, dark and obsessive prince x a seemingly innocent, secretly ruthless noblewoman

Xuan Yian was a jinx who brought misfortune to her father, mother, and younger brother. To break the curse, her father followed the advice of his second wife and confined her in a garden outside the city for seven years. He only brought her back on the Lantern Festival, since she was old enough to be married off.

Proposals filled the desk, but every suitor was mediocre and useless. Not one caught her eye.

Yue Pei tossed the proposal papers around in his hand. "It seems no one but me is willing to marry a jinx like you."

Xuan Yian smiled faintly. "Compared to those rats, you seem to have a pretty high opinion of yourself."

Yue Pei sneered. "So, are you going to marry me or not?"

The next day, the marriage proposal and betrothal gifts from Prince An's manor arrived at the Chancellor's residence, along with an imperial decree arranging the marriage.

The capital was in an uproar.

The King of Hell is marrying a jinx? His Majesty certainly knows what he's doing!

*

Things have been anything but peaceful in the capital lately.

First, people began dying for no apparent reason. Then the Minister of Justice, who was investigating the cases, died mysteriously at home. Finally, when Madam Xuan of the Chancellor's residence hanged herself, all the strange incidents came to an abrupt stop, and the capital fell silent for a long while.

Everyone said it was all because of the jinx from the Xuan family, now the Princess of An.

The strange events in the capital had all begun after she returned.

Yue Pei was the orphaned son of the former dynasty's crown prince. He had wanted to coast through life as an idle prince, but he remained a thorn in other people's sides.

He wondered if he'd been coasting through life too much, making those people think that was all he knew how to do.

Yue Pei realized that his little princess's consort seemed connected to the strange incidents in the capital. If so, he didn't mind giving her a hand.

After everything was over, Prince An sat alone in the main hall, rubbing his temples in frustration. Hadn't he treated his princess consort well? How had she turned into such an ungrateful woman?

He glanced at the divorce papers in Xuan Yian's hand and gently coaxed her, suppressing his anger. "Good girl, throw them away, all right?"

Xuan Yian shook her head without a word.

Yue Pei's eyes darkened. He hooked a finger around the white jade cicada hanging from her waist and pulled her into his arms, his expression sinister and his teeth clenched. "My Princess Consort, do you intend to use me as a pawn and then discard me?"

"Too bad. You can't go anywhere but by my side."

One-on-one, both pure, happy ending

My next novel will be Returning to the Southern Mountains. The blurb is below. If you like it, please add it to your collection. Thank you, everyone!

It's coming in March, so you can add it to your collection now!

A lazy, dramatic country doctor vs. a scheming, sharp-witted sickly man

1.

As a country doctor living quietly in the mountains, Zhu Xi spent her days basking in the sun and occasionally saving a few people for some consultation fees to improve her life. She was quite content.

If only the sickly man in her courtyard, with his red lips and pearly teeth and looks that rivaled Pan An, would disappear from her sight, life would be even better.

Unfortunately, Zhu Xi was destined to have no peace. It seemed she and this sickly man were born under incompatible signs, their elements in conflict.

The little courtyard where Zhu Xi had lived for years was demolished overnight because of that sickly man, and someone even held a knife to her throat to threaten her.

In return, Zhu Xi casually pointed the people who had come for revenge in the right direction...

As they fled for their lives through the martial world, the two constantly clashed. They didn't actually draw their weapons on each other, but they both did their best to kill each other with words.

Unfortunately, the sickly man had the advantage of being better at martial arts, so Zhu Xi had to swallow her anger. As a doctor, she couldn't bring herself to curse him into an early grave...

2.

Shen Yan was a wanderer of the martial world. After many years on the road, he considered himself mild-mannered and polite, and thought he'd never made an enemy. He had no idea which deity he'd offended to be poisoned, leaving him with the prospect of dying without even understanding why.

Shen Yan had found a place to be buried and planned to spend the rest of his life there. On a desolate mountain, he met a shabby, miserly, unethical country doctor. To keep someone like her from disturbing his peace after death, he decided to rid the world of her.

Shen Yan hated liars more than anything, but Zhu Xi kept testing his limits. Though he was "mild-mannered," a voice in his mind repeatedly told him to cut her throat with one stroke and be done with it.

But his sword hand had a mind of its own. He never once managed to go through with it. Instead, he used the sword he treasured above his own life to help her dig up medicinal herbs on the mountain...

Time and again, he put himself in danger for Zhu Xi. When she called him an idiot, he thought her voice was like music to his ears. To make her stop being angry, he even dug up medicinal herbs from half the mountain and brought them to her.

At last, Shen Yan looked down at Zhu Xi in his arms. She had risked her life to follow him down the cliff and was now unconscious, covered in blood. The heartbeat in his chest, which he hadn't felt in a long time, seemed to start again.

He thought he finally understood why he had been trying so hard to please her and act obedient all this time.

3.

Zhu Xi noticed that things had been much quieter lately. That annoying sickly man seemed to have been possessed by someone else. Not only had he stopped arguing with her, he seemed to give in to her at every turn...

Zhu Xi called him dumber than a pig, and he just smiled and agreed without talking back.

He went along with everything she said, never arguing or snapping at her.

He didn't complain when Zhu Xi went up the mountain to dig for herbs and waste time. He even offered to go with her, thoughtfully preparing food and helping out along the way.

The sickly man's warm, gentle smile sent a shiver through Zhu Xi:

Had he found out she'd put a laxative in his food, and was just waiting for the right moment to get back at her?

One-on-one, happy ending, both pure

Blurb written on December 13, 2024

Theme: Once this move is made, take the outcome of the game seriously