[The Little Princess's Suitors Keep Getting Rejected One After Another, While Her "Examiner" Just Wants to Claim the Position Himself]
◎Bold, innocent, and charming imperial princess x powerful general who steals what he is supposed to guard
Changning was the most beloved little princess in the empire. Her life had gone smoothly until she came of age, but she kept hitting one dead end after another when it came to choosing a husband. Every suitor she picked was rejected.
After several attempts, the entire court sighed over the princess's troubled love life. Only she grew suspicious of her maternal uncle, the powerful general Gu Yanzong, as she watched him "worry" over her marriage.
Her uncle gently stroked the crown of her head and comforted her. "Don't be anxious, Ning'er. I'll find someone even better for you."
But she gradually noticed that the "even better" men he presented to her always looked, acted, and studied a little like him, but never quite enough like him.
She used his "measuring stick" to judge the talented young men of the court, and not a single one passed.
Until one night, as the palace clock tolled deep into the dark, she ran barefoot to his quarters on duty. With tearful eyes, she called him "Uncle," and the restraint in his gaze crumbled.
Only then did she believe that those so-called "fine matches" were nothing more than his unspeakable pretext.
He would put forward one man, then ruin another, all because he couldn't bear to hand her over to someone else.
--
In the eyes of others, Gu Yanzong was a battle-hardened general and powerful minister, an impeccable and dignified member of the imperial in-laws.
Only he knew that these identities were borrowed swords, and he had his own target to strike. He simply hadn't expected that something would go "wrong" with the little princess he had watched grow up.
He had protected that little girl from her cries in the cradle to the completion of her coming-of-age ceremony. If she wanted the moon, he would build her a ladder to the sky. But when she wanted a "consort," he hesitated. An emotion he could scarcely put into words tore at his heart.
At a palace banquet, he watched her drink the "fruit wine" handed to her by an admirer, his gaze darkening. With all eyes upon them, he scooped the dizzy princess into his arms and carried her away without a word.
The curtains fell, and the world turned upside down.
Outside the door, the emperor and empress urgently pounded on it, demanding answers. He kissed her flushed cheek and coaxed her in a hoarse voice. "Don't be afraid. I'll go ask for a formal title for us."
[Reading Guide]
1. The leads are not blood-related; their age gap is about ten years.
2. Both are virgins; one-on-one romance; happy ending.
Theme: Never let true feelings down.
