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Resilient, gentle beauty x cold, domineering mad dog
Jiang Ning is a low-ranking maid in the prefect's residence. Because of her striking beauty, her master has repeatedly hinted that he might take her as a concubine. Jiang Ning refuses to become one, and is willing to do any kind of work so she can save enough money to buy her freedom as quickly as possible.
One day, while delivering a meal to an important man, Jiang Ning is forcibly dragged away and made to spend the night with him.
After their night together, the man, drugged with an aphrodisiac, flies into a rage. Jiang Ning belatedly realizes she's become the scapegoat. At death's door, she can only claim that he has been given a love curse that flares up every seven days.
*
Lu Huai has been cursed and forced to sleep with the person who cast it.
He loathes Jiang Ning, the supposed culprit, and shows her no mercy. He'd love to kill her in bed.
But gradually, the curse starts flaring up more and more often.
One day, unable to suppress his desire any longer, he corners her against the wall and demands an answer. His gaze, brimming with passion and lust, pins her in place. "Why has the love curse flared up again?"
Jiang Ning is timid and dim-witted, stammering without being able to explain.
Irritated, he takes her to the bedchamber, not noticing the strange look in her eyes.
*
Not long after, the imperial physician, an expert in curses, returns to the capital, and Lu Huai summons him to the prince's residence for treatment.
Confused, he says, "This curse is powerful. Now it flares up every day, and whenever it does, it lasts all night."
His words are filled with the bewilderment of someone experiencing love for the first time. The imperial physician can't bear to listen any longer. Trembling, he replies that Lu Huai isn't cursed at all, then flees with his medical case.
After a silence like death, Lu Huai's face darkens. He orders his guards to fetch Jiang Ning.
As expected, all he gets is news that she's gone.
Lu Huai laughs in a fury. Fine. He'll catch that liar and bring her back.
1. Both leads are each other's first and only.
2. The male lead is not a good person.
3. A huge class gap, lots of forced romance, and plenty of melodrama, including a pregnancy escape.
Theme: Only by seeing past lies and deception can one find the truth in someone's heart
