Synopsis
[Taking by Guile and Force] [The Chase After Losing Her] [Bittersweet] [Intense Push and Pull]
A Northern Dynasty princess and a Southern Dynasty favored consort × an abandoned scion of a Northern Dynasty noble family and a wicked favorite of the Southern Dynasty
One seems to love without wavering but is really a former actress; the other appears serene and noble but is actually dark and twisted
In the deep palace of Southern Qi, someone was kept under lock and key: a beauty. Less than a month after entering the palace, Consort Yun had been tormented until she lay gravely ill, on the brink of death. She was nothing like the woman who had arrived for the political marriage, radiant and full of life.
At the same time, strange events plagued the Southern Qi harem. People suspected vengeful ghosts and evil spirits were at work. Rumors spread through the palace, and everyone lived in fear. The foolish, incompetent emperor summoned the state preceptor to perform rituals, hoping to avert disaster and dispel evil. When the rites were over, every divination pointed to the same person: Yun Wanzhuang, the Princess of Northern Yan.
The first time Yun Wanzhuang saw Lan Ji, she was struck by his moonlit radiance and the elegant bearing of a cloud crane. He was nothing like the corrupt, wicked sorcerer from the rumors, who supposedly beguiled the ruler.
But what did that matter? He had come to kill her.
Beneath the moonlight, she tore off the talismans stuck to her body. Her clothes slipped halfway off, layers of crimson gauze revealing and concealing her striking figure. Her cheeks were flushed, but her face was wan with illness: cold and alluring, snow and blush, she stole the heart.
"Take a good look. Am I the monster you claim I am?"
But he was so free of desire and distraction that, if she hadn't later pulled out every trick in her repertoire, she might really have believed he was a man of immortal bearing!
On the night they consummated their affair, she clung to his back and let him take her to the heights of ecstasy. But she still shed tears, pitiful and heart-rending. "You're so good to me. Why do you still want my life..."
Even if only for a moment, she caught the flash of pity in his eyes, clouded with desire.
That was enough. It was more than enough!
By day, she was an ill and unloved consort, held in someone else's power. By night, she gave herself to the wicked sorcerer of an enemy nation, becoming his captive beneath him. With a sliver of his sympathy and acting skills unmatched by anyone in the world, Yun Wanzhuang managed to save her own life.
Until one day, she discovered there was more to him. His supposedly serene and detached nature, his moon-bright, breezy demeanor, all of it was a lie!
The skeleton beneath his disguise was so horrifying that she could hardly bear to look. She couldn't even tell whether he was the one secretly obstructing her way home, a road that seemed so close yet was repeatedly blocked.
It turned out he had uncovered her secret long ago.
Well, in that case, he would just have to die. All that tenderness and lingering affection? She disowned every bit of it!
But unexpectedly, after she returned to her motherland, the sorcerer she'd once plotted to kill appeared before her again. This time, he was the one barely clinging to life. He was the one fallen into the dirt, and the one pleading with tearful eyes for even the smallest scrap of pity and sympathy from her.
Yun Wanzhuang: You don't really think we were together, do you?
Lan Ji: So she was only pretending to love me...
Reader's guide:
1. Both leads are virgins
2. Includes romantic competition between men
3. A showcase of the leads' acting skills, with intense bittersweet push and pull: which of them is the better actor?
4. The leads will do whatever it takes to achieve their goals. They are neither perfect nor saintly, and sometimes their sense of morality is even in the negative.
5. The main story remains serious, set in a fictional world inspired by the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern dynasties, with some original worldbuilding, so please don't nitpick historical accuracy. Ensemble cast.
The title and blurb may change, but the story won't.
Screenshots archived on 2025.1.19, 2025.2.23, and 2025.3.23
Theme: Strive ceaselessly and never give up
