Hiding the Golden Branch (GB)

★ Gender-bender, matriarchal society / coercive possession / an over-the-top melodramatic mix

★ The blurb may be adjusted slightly when the story begins

Zhou Nanye was reincarnated in the womb as the fourth princess of the current dynasty, and fell in love with her childhood friend Pei Tingyu when she was young. Unfortunately, her love was unrequited: Pei Tingyu loved the third princess.

Whenever she saw the person she loved trying to curry favor with the third princess, Zhou Nanye suffered in silence. The head of the Pei family even gossiped about her behind her back, calling her an idle princess who would never amount to anything. Enraged, Zhou Nanye went to the western frontier to enlist and prove herself.

Before she left, she angrily sought out Pei Tingyu and left him with a threat: "You'd better hope you never fall into my hands."

When she returned to the capital, Zhou Nanye was composed and reserved, having put the rebelliousness of her youth behind her. The once-cherished Pei Tingyu, the golden branch she had pursued, had lost his family overnight and become a criminal slave.

Zhou Nanye's cavalry surrounded the Pei estate as it burned fiercely. The proud young man who had once looked down on her knelt humbly and begged for her mercy.

Zhou Nanye curled her lips into a cold smile, the firelight illuminating her shadowed eyelashes.

She took Pei Tingyu back to her mansion and kept him hidden away in luxury, spending every night in pleasure. When he begged her tearfully to stop, she mocked him without mercy: "I told you not to fall into my hands."

You'll have a soft, bitter time of it.

(Latest version of the blurb written on 2025/4/17)

Theme: Grow toward the sun