[A delicate, foolish beauty who just wants to lie flat and do nothing x a domineering, desire-driven, iron-blooded emperor with patriarchal ideals * pseudo-incest + forced marriage and possessive pursuit + everyone falls for her + a battlefield of rival suitors]
In the third year of Zhenghe, Princess Zhaozhi, the Holy Church's high priestess, passed away in secret. To prevent public unrest and the loss of imperial authority, the emperor and the Xiao family plotted to find a woman to impersonate Princess Zhaozhi and preserve the status quo of the Holy Church.
Hua Nuan, a fourteen-year-old songstress who had never performed in public, was secretly chosen because the beauty mark at the corner of her eye resembled the princess's. She was pure and lovely, with a voice as sweet as honey poured over glass. She seemed timid and easily controlled.
The emperor was exacting. He thought she lacked a princess's bearing and was unfit for the role, unable to help him win the people's loyalty.
The head of the Xiao family, however, was entirely satisfied. He would wait until a new high priest was chosen, then marry her and keep her pampered and under his thumb.
Hua Nuan was on tenterhooks. She obeyed the emperor's orders, studying diligently, cultivating herself, managing affairs of state, and also avoiding the head of the family, whose teasing was often aggressive and possessive.
Just as she was exhausted in body and mind, the civil official Zhang Ji appeared, gentle as a breeze.
.
One year later, on a spring night of rain and flowering crabapples.
Hua Nuan could no longer bear the stifling atmosphere of the palace. Shyly, she took Zhang Ji by the wrist and asked him to take her away from the imperial palace, to escape together.
But Zhang Ji's usual smile vanished. He pushed her away with a cold expression. "Please conduct yourself with dignity, Princess. You must never be so familiar with me in His Majesty's presence."
Hua Nuan's heart trembled. She turned around in despair.
At the top of the steps stood her nominal imperial elder brother, the young emperor Helian Yelu, his face icy and his gaze sinister as he watched the scene.
.
"I had you study and learn propriety, taught you to govern and care for the people, and bestowed upon you supreme authority, yet all you can think about is romance! You have gone so far as to elope with someone!"
In the dim secret chamber, it was impossible to tell whether the emperor's eyes held anger at her failure to meet his expectations or utter disappointment.
Cornered by a long sword, Hua Nuan knelt helplessly and gently tugged at the emperor's robe with her delicate hands, sobbing. "Imperial brother, I was wrong. Forgive me this once. From now on, I'll do whatever you say..."
The emperor had always been cold and ruthless. Hua Nuan thought there was no way out for her.
But a moment later, the sword clattered to the ground.
The emperor's icy fingertips brushed her burning lips.
Hua Nuan opened her eyes, trembling.
The iron-blooded emperor, renowned by all as bright as the sun and moon and feared throughout the four seas, gazed at her with an uncontrollable, obsessive longing.
"A Nuan, as long as you behave, Imperial Brother can give you anything you want. I could even kill the head of the Xiao family, if you asked..."
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Reader advisory:
1. Happy ending, both leads are each other's first, cold and wild emperor x scheming, delicate princess
2. The head of the Xiao family is the emperor's sworn younger brother and the original princess's fiance
3. A fictional dynasty, inspired by historical countries with religious cultures and a belief in the divine right of kings
4. At first, the heroine struggles to escape her lowly status. Later, she realizes she is a princess with real power, gradually grows, and works in harmony with the hero
Blurb written on June 4, 2025, with a screenshot saved for the record
Theme: When you reach the end of the stream, sit and watch the clouds rise
