[Alluring noblewoman x Love-struck warlord]
At the end of the Ye Dynasty, the land was in turmoil and rebellions erupted everywhere.
People all said that Grand Tutor Shi was a brilliant strategist. His eldest daughter was the emperor's favored consort, his second daughter was the most celebrated of marquises' wives, and the remaining daughter, born of a concubine, was being used to bet on the next rising power in the Ye Dynasty.
Shi Liao arrived in Fanchuan with an extravagant bridal dowry, having been sent there to marry just after the rebellion was put down. But the moment she lifted the curtain, she discovered that her bargain husband had been switched.
Tsk. What a waste of her poison-coated dagger.
The real husband was a sickly man who seemed ready to collapse at the slightest breeze and coughed every few steps. The fake husband was dressed in plain clothes and covered in makeup, yet couldn't hide his muscular physique. The real husband was debauched, with concubines and maids by the dozen. The fake husband would turn beet red if she so much as flirted with him.
With leverage over him, he couldn't kill her, refuse the marriage, or even escape her advances.
Outside the screen, a group of advisers waited on high alert.
Inside, Shi Liao lifted a finger and traced his bobbing Adam's apple with her cool fingertip. Pleased to see him aroused yet holding himself back, she coaxed and teased him with a promise:
"Only if you can win my favor will you be worthy of being the real one."
*
Wei Yue had known from the start that she was trouble.
Before he could even see her beautiful face, he spotted the dagger hidden in her sleeve. It was coated in poison, enough to kill with a single drop of blood.
He prepared to dance with the devil, repeatedly reminding himself of the sort of poisonous woman standing before him and that he must never trust her. But she kept clinging to him, whispering sweet nothings as they pressed cheek to cheek. He couldn't help thinking that even if nine-tenths of her affection was false, surely one-tenth of it had to be sincere.
But she had no sincere feelings for him.
She coaxed him into becoming her concubine without a name or title, then turned around and took his seal of office to become another man's concubine.
He was so furious his teeth ached, and he used every trick she'd played on him against her.
Outside the city, two armies faced off, and the fires of war still burned.
Inside the city, Shi Liao was pinned against a bookcase with her wrists held behind her back. Bamboo slips tumbled noisily to the floor.
"I've spent so long pleasing you. Now it's your turn."
Note: Male lead C
Theme: From putting myself first to caring about the greater good, in search of life's meaning
