After Leaving the Palace, I Found Harmony with Prince Jing

Blurb:

P.S. The main story is complete. Writing isn't easy, so please support the official release. My next novel is She and Her Fated Enemy, Her Ex-Husband, Reach a Happy Ending After Their Divorce.

The male lead wins her back / marriage first, love later

Zhou Jiayue transmigrates to another world. In just six months, she goes from a singing girl at the Marquis's residence to the emperor's most favored consort. Everyone says she is lucky.

But that isn't the truth. She only wanted to escape the wolves' den, and instead fell into an even deeper pit.

The emperor doesn't love her. He only uses her and her rivalry with the other consorts to keep the powerful maternal relatives in check.

After five years, she is left riddled with illness and injury. As she lies dying, thinking she can finally be free, she wakes up again as the wife of Prince Jing.

After his beloved Consort Shu dies, Xiao Ce sinks into gloom. A lowly woman shouldn't be able to affect him like this. Then he sees his third sister-in-law, whose eyes and bearing are remarkably similar to hers.

She often hums a song that nobody else knows, and Xiao Yue recognizes her. But she is no longer the submissive woman she once was. She and Prince Jing are a loving couple, sweet as can be.

Scene One:

Zhou Jiayue hears that Xiao Heng is drinking and visiting courtesans with officials. Worried the old story might repeat itself, she brings out the seductive tricks she used to use, but he is unmoved. He changes her into a newly made sleeping gown and massages her with his long, slender fingers.

“I saw the fabric on a foreign dancer and thought it was nice. I shamelessly asked her for a few new pieces, then helped her gain her freedom. That's why I took so long. The others were too coarse and would be bad for your skin.”

Zhou Jiayue smells her new gown. It is very soft, with a faint herbal scent. The medicine she applies every day has been worked into the fabric, and that must have taken quite some time.

“I'm getting better. You don't have to do all this.”

“Even someone in good health shouldn't dismiss a cold or a cough, let alone you.”

Xiao Ce speaks as he massages the tense places on her body. Now and then, he touches somewhere he shouldn't. Things quickly heat up. He has always been gentle, but he also knows how to last.

Scene Two:

Jiayue practices calligraphy, and her writing looks like a chicken pecking at rice.

Xiao Heng: “Then I'll gladly come to you.”

Jiayue likes to cheat at chess and is “notorious” among the noblewomen, so she can only pester Xiao Heng.

“Heng, they all look down on me. They say I'm a cheat for taking back my moves. You're good at chess. Play with me.”

“...”

She always thinks she can beat him, but loses every time. And when she loses, he has his way with her.

Reading Guide:

1. As the blurb says, the male lead's effort to win her back is a complete failure.

2. The female lead was not a virgin before, while the male lead is. The male lead is Xiao Heng, and he remains devoted to her throughout.

3. There will be no alternate-universe storyline for Xiao Ce and Jiayue. My alternate stories never change the protagonists. In every scenario, Yue and Heng are a couple.

4. The blurb was made by Bi Shui Gu Gu at my request. The red-to-green gradient represents the female lead's escape from the palace walls and their strict confinement, and a future full of new possibilities at every turn.

5. Marriage first and love later, with both the failed pursuit and the romance running in parallel. The overall tone isn't too heavy. I hope you enjoy reading.

Theme: Love someone who is already wonderful just as they are