Your Highness, What Happened to Your Sharp-Tongued Persona?

My next upcoming novel: Young Master, I Really Didn't Do It on Purpose. See the blurb below this one.

[My take on xianxia, with plenty of original worldbuilding]

Yun Fu knew just how poisonous Xie Huaiyu's tongue could be.

Any behavior he deemed "stupid" earned a scathing critique, no matter a person's status or age. There was no one he wouldn't dare insult.

He was a noble-born prince with a face of the highest caliber, yet somehow he had a mouth so venomous that even licking his lips could kill him.

Yun Fu had to stay by his side to use him in her investigation into the demons, but that didn't mean she had to put up with him, especially since she was one of the targets of his sharp remarks.

For instance, when Yun Fu told him she'd save him if he ever got into danger, Xie Huaiyu merely scoffed and told her not to get herself killed in the process. To Yun Fu, it was no different from him shouting, "If you're weak, get lost. Don't take yourself so seriously."

From then on, she started making sarcastic remarks at him, too. They bickered every day, and anyone who didn't know better would have thought they were sworn enemies who'd hated each other for years.

Yun Fu thought that as soon as this was over, she'd hurry back home, so she wouldn't have to see him every day and get irritated.

The day Xie Huaiyu accidentally uncovered her identity, Yun Fu admitted she was actually panicking. After all, everything he knew about her past and family was a lie, including the name she'd casually made up on the spot.

At the time, she was the most cherished princess of the Spirit Clan, and he was the Third Prince of the Celestial Clan, visiting as a guest.

The relationship they'd managed to mend while investigating the demons instantly turned sour. They looked at each other coldly and traded vicious words.

Yun Fu thought that, with neither of them willing to back down, they would part ways and never speak again. So, when they met again, she told him in a final farewell: You go your way, and I'll go mine. From now on, we have nothing to do with each other.

But as she turned to leave, Xie Huaiyu caught her by the hem of her robe.

The corners of his eyes, usually so carefree, were tinged red. His gaze was full of desperate, unbearable pleading and heartbreak. She had never seen him like this before.

"Give me one more chance, please," he said, his voice trembling.

"I was wrong, A Fu. I don't expect you to forgive me. If you don't want to hear me speak, I'll keep my mouth shut. I won't say a single word."

"But please don't hate me, and don't tell me to go my way while you go yours."

Later, Xie Huaiyu's sword intent, once famous for its "utterly bitter winter," bloomed with masses of peach blossoms.

It was the second level of sword intent he'd comprehended: Spring Amidst the Ruins.

Spring filled the skies. He gazed into Yun Fu's sparkling eyes, guiding her hand to his chest as he softly murmured words of love he would never have said before.

"Listen. Every time I say your name, my heart beats faster."

That was a lie. In truth, just seeing you makes my heart flutter.

If life were always like our first meeting, then every season of my life would be spring.

*

A gifted, lively princess x a sharp-tongued, aloof, stubbornly proud young master

- One-on-one romance, both leads are each other's first

- Sweet, sweet, sweet! The author is a devoted happy-ending fan.

- The characters are all flawed. The heroine is not a naive, sweet, helpless type.

- The plot takes up a considerable portion, so readers who only want romance should be warned.

- There is little cultivation and power-level progression. The story mainly takes place in various arcs and plotlines, so readers who mind should be warned.

---- Upcoming novel ----

Ren Xiyu was a little koi fish demon, and for over a decade everything had gone her way.

Except for one thing.

When Xiyu was eight, she snuck out to buy candied hawthorn and came across an injured little wolf.

She took out a Twin-Bloom Herb to save it.

The Twin-Bloom Herb had a black flower and a white flower that grew together. One was a life-saving medicine, while the other was a potent poison.

Remembering people say that the prettier flower was the medicine, little Xiyu unhesitatingly picked the black flower and fed it to the wolf before setting it free. When she got home, she excitedly told her mother she'd saved a life.

The moment Xiyu learned that the white flower was the antidote, she felt the sky had fallen.

She'd forgotten that everyone else liked white, while she preferred black.

So the little wolf's movements after eating the flower weren't a sign it was waking up, but its death throes.

Unable to accept the result, the little girl cried and insisted on leaving. Her parents, who doted on their daughter, thought she had been bullied and moved away that very night.

Ren Xiyu never expected that the little wolf not only survived, but was also the young master of the Demon Clan.

The young master found her home and immediately demanded to know why she'd poisoned him all those years ago.

Ren Xiyu was terrified. She really hadn't done it on purpose!

As a child, Shen Juxing was hunted by villains. He barely escaped, only to be fed poison by someone, and almost died.

After recovering, he swore to find his enemy and make the wicked culprit suffer a thousand cuts.

But when Shen Juxing saw that his "enemy" was a dazed little girl, who tearfully said she hadn't done it on purpose, he panicked.

"I-it's fine," he stammered, waving his hands.

He never imagined that the girl, despite looking dazed, was stubbornly determined to be punished. Shen Juxing had never encountered such a request in his life. After thinking it over, he came up with the simplest solution:

He took Xiyu back to the Demon Palace and had her repent to him every day.

After a few days, he'd send her home, he thought.

And so Xiyu's daily routine became:

After waking up: "Young Master, I really didn't do it on purpose!"

At mealtimes: "Young Master, I really didn't do it on purpose!"

Before bed: "Young Master, I really didn't do it on purpose!"

On top of that, everyone kept teasing that the young master had found himself a little wife. At last, Shen Juxing couldn't take it anymore and told her to go home if she had nothing to do.

Shen Juxing regretted his harsh words as soon as he said them, because she really did leave.

Later, when a man from another clan visited the Demon Palace, he asked Ren Xiyu for directions, and she cheerfully showed him the way.

She didn't notice Shen Juxing watching her from around the corner, gloomily fixed on her back.

That night, scalding tears fell into the heavenly pool he'd built for Xiyu, sending ripples spreading in circles.

The usually unruly young master had tears in his eyes.

"Don't talk to him."

The little koi panicked and hugged him back, at a loss for what to do.

"Young Master, I really didn't do it on purpose!"

A tsundere young master x a silly, sweet girl

- One-on-one romance, both leads are each other's first, happy ending. A romance between a young man and woman.

Theme: Spring always comes.