Beauty on the Inkstone

Coercive romance / Male stand-in / A brief groveling pursuit of his wife

Beautiful, resilient legitimate daughter x outwardly gentle, inwardly dark and sinister crown prince

Zhou Shuyu, the legitimate daughter of the Zhou family, was born with celestial beauty and had long been famous for it.

As the Zhou family fell into decline, they sought to restore their former glory by currying favor with the crown prince. They sent her to his residence without asking what she wanted.

No one knew that Zhou Shuyu had always kept a young man in her heart.

When she was young, he rescued her from captivity, and she secretly fell in love with him.

Zhou Shuyu thought she would never see him again.

That changed on the night she was carried into the crown prince's residence. A young man stood beneath the moon, as pure and graceful as a clear breeze and bright moon. Even the beauty mark at the corner of his eye was exactly as she remembered it.

Zhou Shuyu's eyes reddened, and her voice trembled. "Brother Ayan?"

"It's me." The young man was as warm and gentle as jade. His long, slender fingers tenderly wiped away the tear at the corner of her eye. "Ayu, I've missed you so much."

Ji Yan was still the gentle young man Zhou Shuyu remembered. He treated her with restraint and propriety. Though his heart was clearly moved, he had never crossed the line.

Everyone thought he disliked the crown princess, which was why he kept such a beauty at arm's length.

Only Zhou Shuyu knew that every night, the usually gentle and refined Ji Yan would hold her tightly in his arms, trembling as he called her "Ayu" again and again.

His voice brimmed with an all-consuming love.

Zhou Shuyu thought she had married the man she loved: noble, gentle, and the very person who had once saved her from danger. He was the finest man in the world.

Then one day, Ji Yan got drunk and collapsed in the bath. The beauty mark at the corner of his eye washed away, and when he looked up at her, his eyes blazed with desire, dark and wild.

Only then did Zhou Shuyu realize Ji Yan had been deceiving her all along.

She hurried to her feet and turned to flee, but someone grabbed her ankle and pulled her back.

"Ayu."

Ji Yan pressed kisses and bites to her ear, his long fingers stroking her trembling cheek. He was nothing like the gentle man he had pretended to be. "Do you really like that useless fool, my elder brother, so much?"

Ji Yan was a despicable man. He had fallen in love with his elder brother's beloved.

To possess her, he drove his brother away, then impersonated him to get close to her. By day, he was gentle, courteous, and every bit the perfect gentleman.

Only at night, emboldened by drink, did he dare confess his love to the woman he had coveted for years, his longing etched to the bone.

He had long since grown tired of pretending.

Now that she had discovered the truth, he would make her his true crown princess.

#A dark and sinister crown prince becomes a stand-in for love

*Both leads are each other's first, happy ending, alternate setting

Synopsis written on 2025/5/29 and saved as a screenshot

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