[Bold, Radiant Female Lead x Gentle, Proper Male Lead]
Xiao Lian was beautiful from a young age, making her the perfect tool for County Magistrate Xiao to curry favor with powerful aristocratic families. But through a twist of fate, the former greatest beauty of Qizhou became the beloved concubine of Third Young Master Zhao, and shut herself away from the world.
Until the Third Young Master died on the battlefield.
The Zhao family despised her arrogance and insolence, and demanded that she be buried alive with him.
Before her burial, someone urged her regretfully, "The Second Young Master holds the highest offices and is kind and benevolent. Go plead with him. Perhaps things can still change."
Second Young Master Zhao Yi was peerlessly elegant, like a clear breeze beneath a bright moon. He especially valued filial piety, fraternal affection, loyalty, and righteousness. He was the easiest person to talk to.
What others did not know was that she and Zhao Yi had once shared a romance before her marriage.
Unable to stand his cold, distant manner, she tried to lure him down from his lofty pedestal. The ancestral hall, their bedroom, the study, and even the Buddhist shrine all became places where she tried to tempt him.
One spring night, furious after being provoked by the Zhao family, Xiao Lian added a little extra to the mix, cornered Zhao Yi in the ancestral hall, and forced him to question his worldly attachments before the ancestral tablets.
In an instant, the gentlemanly propriety he cherished, and the brotherly respect between him and his younger brother, vanished without a trace.
Afterward, she could never forget the icy, disgusted look in Zhao Yi's eyes.
He hated her to the bone. How could he possibly save her?
Better to rely on herself than beg someone else.
So, on the eve of her burial, Xiao Lian set a fire and fled.
.
The four kingdoms stood in a precarious balance. The ruling Empress Dowager of Beiyou, in the kingdom of Qing, had found her long-lost daughter. Thus the beloved concubine of General Zhao of Nanyan had become Beiyou's Grand Princess, second only to the Empress Dowager and above all others.
Everyone knew that Grand Princess Xiao Lian was outrageous in her conduct, and that as the Empress Dowager's only daughter, she indulged in whatever she pleased and made no effort to hide it.
Yet a woman like her showed no interest in men and was exceptionally filial. Whenever she stayed in the palace, she visited the Empress Dowager's quarters every night at the start of the Hai hour.
The palace attendants assumed that the two mistresses, having been separated for so many years, were trying to make up for lost time.
Until the night of the emperor's birthday banquet. After the birthday envoys from every kingdom had departed, the attendants waited from the start of the Hai hour until its end, but Xiao Lian never appeared. Suspecting something was amiss, the Empress Dowager sent someone to investigate.
The attendant had just stepped into Changming Hall when they caught sight of the Grand Princess. Her delicate, haughty face was marked by a cold, playful expression as she lifted the chin of the man kneeling before her.
Never having witnessed such a scene, the attendant could not help looking toward the man in black, kneeling motionless on the floor.
It was Zhao Yi, an envoy from Nanyan.
Xiao Lian half-lidded her captivating eyes and smiled at him.
"The Emperor of Yanyan has abandoned you. You may as well come to your senses and become my male attendant."
.
Zhao Yi had spent his entire life restraining himself and observing propriety. He had never imagined that he would become entangled for half his life with his former younger brother's concubine.
Until that day, when his third brother, who had supposedly died on the battlefield, appeared at the Grand Princess's residence. Zhao Yi still untied his jade belt.
"Third Young Master is suffering a recurrence of his old ailment and likely cannot come. Your Highness, please allow me to attend to you."
Reading Guide:
1. The characters have questionable morals.
2. Expect outrageous, dramatic twists.
3. The characters are not perfect.
4. Updates will be irregular before the paid chapters, then daily.
5. The female lead will end her marriage to the second male lead before pursuing a romantic relationship or intimacy and marriage with the male lead.
Character card art used with the artist Bing Dao's permission
Theme: Love yourself
Dear author, I would like to ask if the female protagonist has any other emotional lines besides the male protagonist and Saburo in the later period. It's exciting [Orange Candy].
Forget it, I'm waiting for [question mark] every day
[Purple Sugar] kswl looks forward to the heroine's future progress 🤩
More, more, more, balls.
It's so beautiful. Hahaha, I'll be watching over it every day.
Someone, it's very good to write in big letters
Hurry up and update it, ahhhhhhhhhhh, I really want to see the male protagonist get jealous