My Scheming Imperial Sister Has Changed GL

Proud, innocent younger woman / charming, scheming mastermind (with absolutely no blood relation)

Preorder: The Princess and Her Laborer (GL), please add it to your collection.

Blurb:

For the first half of her life, the person Yong An hated most was Cheng Ding. Cheng Ding loomed like a mountain in the way of her becoming the Great Lin's foremost princess.

Whether it was the spring examinations, autumn hunts, summer flower-viewing, or winter moon-gazing, Yong An always had to compete with Cheng Ding. Cheng Ding could crush her without lifting a finger and still have plenty of energy left to contend with the Eastern Palace.

But as their rivalry went on, Yong An began to realize things were taking an odd turn. The scheming, ambitious woman whose every move could shake the court suddenly changed her ways and began smiling as she fussed over Yong An.

The noblewomen of high society all said that someone as calculating as Her Highness Cheng Ding was using a slow-boil strategy to cook Yong An, the hapless frog. Yong An backed away and kept her guard up, gritting her teeth as she tried not to fall into her trap.

When a few tricks didn't work, Cheng Ding began using subtler ways to hurt her.

She made Yong An earn a reputation for bringing misfortune to men at a young age, then gave her heart palpitations while she was still a child.

But Cheng Ding still wasn't satisfied. On the full-moon festival, when families gathered together, she let her long hair down and wore a sheer gauzy robe. She hooked a finger behind Yong An's neck and asked in a low voice, her smile not reaching her eyes, "Where do you think you're going, little sister? It's the Lantern Festival. Shouldn't you be spending it with your family?"

Yong An hesitated, trembling with fear. She tried to keep her voice composed as she called her Imperial Elder Sister, but her hands, which had never gotten along with their owner, fell right into Cheng Ding's trap.

Yong An believed she had spent most of her life fighting Cheng Ding and had simply lost by a hair.

Cheng Ding took control of the government and deposed the new ruler, yet told a very different story to the outside world: "I have never been as good as Yong An. Yong An is lively, adorable, clever, and quick-witted. I am a gloomy, deranged, vicious schemer."

Yong An: "?"

If Cheng Ding would treat her the way she had on that full-moon night, Yong An thought she might still be able to go back to being lively, adorable, clever, and quick-witted. But if Cheng Ding kept pushing her without restraint, she wouldn't mind becoming a gloomy, deranged, vicious schemer herself!

Author's GL preorder: The Princess and Her Laborer

Stoic laborer * Scheming princess

The imperial power changes hands, and a new order is established.

A ruined nobody with a surname but no given name, whose family had been destroyed, was picked up by an old beggar on the roadside. A bowl of thin, steaming gruel with hardly any rice in it saved her life.

At a very young age, she wandered into the prince's manor, dazed and covered in blood, and became a laborer there.

The young lady of the manor had just turned fifteen. She not only gave her the name Yan, but also went out herself into the stormy night to hold a bamboo-paper umbrella over this rootless wanderer. From then on, Li Yan accepted her as her mistress.

The young princess was incomparably refined and had grown up in luxury, yet there was always an unfathomable compassion in her eyes.

Li Yan willingly became her blade. Even when Her Highness used ruthless methods and acted without mercy, Li Yan never wavered.

Wei Wanzheng was busy stirring up trouble in the court, never expecting a fire to break out first in her own household.

The grown princess's fury finally came down on the person who had started it all.

Later, Li Yan, who had sworn she would never betray her, was bound hand and foot and sent to the princess's bed. Her Highness, usually so skilled at getting her way, punished her with a "soft knife."

She wore only a light, sheer gauze robe. A single glance was enough to see the graceful curves beneath it. The candle flame flickered in the night breeze coming through the window. Her delicate, jade-white knees trembled as she knelt before Li Yan. In her usual cool, detached voice, she said things that left Li Yan utterly baffled.

"Have I not treated you well?"

"Look up at me."

"What more do you want me to do?"

Li Yan knew all the tricks she used to deal with people, so she simply looked away and pressed her lips together in silence.

Wei Wanzheng gritted her teeth and endured it for half the night. At last, under Li Yan's gaze, her expression changed. Her eyes, full of reproach and resentment, somehow took on a springlike glow, and peach blossoms seemed to bloom at their corners.

"You're bullying me." Even her usually cool, confident voice trembled faintly with uncertainty.

She was even turning the tables and accusing Li Yan.

* Ensemble cast

* Fictional dynasty

* Flowers bloom in a swamp

Theme: Strive bravely and keep moving forward