After Becoming an Incubus, I Was Offered to My Archrival

[The main story is complete, with bonus chapters updating]

Childhood sweethearts, lost and found again, faux-replacement romance.

Short version:

She thinks she's fallen into the hands of her nemesis, but they've secretly loved each other for years.

She thinks she's taken in a replacement, but it's actually the beloved she lost and found again.

Long version:

The day Sikong Xue returned to the capital victorious was the day the entire Ning family was exiled.

Ning Yuan had not yet finished embroidering her wedding dress when her fiancee brutally murdered her.

When she opened her eyes again, Ning Yuan had been reborn in another body. Bound inside a carriage, she was now a tribute from the succubus clan to the Great Liang dynasty.

After being presented to Great Liang, Ning Yuan had not yet found a chance to approach her enemies when her former rival, Sikong Xue, forced the emperor to give her to her.

Ning Yuan planned to use Sikong Xue's power to avenge her family. But Sikong Xue paid no attention to her feigned flirtation.

Then one day, the succubus body went into heat. Ning Yuan clutched Sikong Xue's hand and pleaded pitifully, "A-Lin, help me..."

She expected the ill-tempered Sikong Xue to seize the chance to mock her. Instead, Sikong Xue cupped Ning Yuan's face with great care and whispered in her ear, "A-Yuan, if this is what you want, you can't regret it."

Ning Yuan: ?!

After that, for countless nights, even after her heat had passed, Ning Yuan was still held in her "nemesis's" arms, with no restraint.

Sikong Xue had loved Ning Yuan for years. After winning her first battle, she wanted to go to the prime minister's residence in grand style and ask for Ning Yuan's hand. Instead, she heard that Ning Yuan was engaged to Yuchi Jin.

Watching the woman she longed for ask her if the phoenix crown she'd prepared for her wedding looked good, Sikong Xue, irritated and flustered, could only say, "It's hideous."

Sikong Xue regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. How had she managed to make Ning Yuan angry again?

To avoid upsetting Ning Yuan further, Sikong Xue volunteered to return to the northern deserts to put down a rebellion after only a few days of rest.

She thought that seeing Ning Yuan married after returning to the capital would finally help her let go. But on the day she returned victorious, she received a secret letter saying that the Ning family had angered the emperor and would probably be wiped out.

Sikong Xue rushed to the imperial capital as if her life depended on it, but she was still too late.

To avenge Ning Yuan, Sikong Xue, who had never cared for power struggles, shed her armor and entered the court.

When she had risen to the highest ranks, before she could take action, a foreign tribe presented the emperor with a succubus who looked exactly like Ning Yuan.

Holding the imperial decree she'd earned through her military service, Sikong Xue forced the new emperor to give the tribute to her.

Looking at that identical face, Sikong Xue felt a flicker of guilt.

The person before her wasn't Ning Yuan. If she did this, wouldn't she be betraying the woman she loved?

Sikong Xue could only keep her in her residence, avoiding her day after day.

Until one day, Sikong Xue discovered that this tribute knew the secret she had shared with Ning Yuan.

Theme: True love can overcome anything