Synopsis
[Taking What Is Not Yours] [Fake Death] [The Wife-Chasing Crematorium]
Divine Healer Princess × Cold, Straightforward Prince
She risked her life to help him ascend the throne, but he turned around and married someone else, granting her only a marriage that confined her to the back courtyard.
Shen Zhiwei was utterly heartbroken. On the night of their wedding, her life had already burned down to its last flicker.
"Your Highness, the Princess Consort... chose to die of her own will."
When he heard the diagnosis, Pei Yan, whose power held the court in his grasp, felt as if he had fallen into an icy abyss. He abandoned the imperial throne within his reach and kept vigil over her cold body like a madman, desperately hoping to bring her back.
Until she faked her death and escaped, finding a new life amid the apricot blossoms of Jiangnan. He pursued her, travel-worn, casting aside all his pride and trembling as he begged her humbly: "Come back with me."
But she only looked at him calmly and tossed a divorce letter before him.
"Pei Yan, you have already won the world."
"This time, I am the one who does not want you."
Prince of Zhennan, go claim your throne. Rule the world, alone and without anyone by your side.
[Extended Synopsis]
Shen Zhiwei was a disciple of a divine healer. Adrift and alone in the capital, her only remaining worth was keeping the dying Crown Prince alive.
Her betrothed, Pei Yan, was the only light in her darkness. The engagement she had once thought little of became the one thing she wanted most in life.
For him, she wagered her sect's connections and all her medical skill, exhausting herself to help him fight for power.
Until she heard him discussing another marriage with his trusted aide.
"The Shen family has fallen. She is of no use to our cause and unfit to be a proper wife."
The man's voice was indifferent, as though he were discussing an old possession. "Since she loves me so devotedly, grant her the position of concubine. Once her family is exonerated, that can count as a reward."
She refused to become a concubine and struggled to escape, but he caught her himself and imprisoned her in the back courtyard.
On the night of the wedding, he entertained guests at a joyous feast in the front courtyard while she sat alone in the back courtyard until dawn.
From then on, her heart turned to ashes.
She got her wish and married Pei Yan, yet after their wedding she could not even see him.
**
At first, Pei Yan had paid little attention to his betrothed. She was merely a woman forced on him by a marriage decree from the late emperor. Now that she had lost her maternal family, even taking her as a concubine was a stretch.
But seeing her run around for his sake and love him so deeply stirred a little tenderness in him. Once he ascended the throne, he would not treat her unfairly.
For now, however, he had more important matters to deal with. He needed a powerful family alliance to support him.
So he could only take her as a concubine for the time being.
But Shen Zhiwei refused. She foolishly insisted on becoming his proper wife and even tried to run away.
Pei Yan imprisoned her with cold indifference, intending to teach her a lesson.
There was plenty of time. She would eventually realize she was wrong.
Until an aide came rushing in, alarmed: "The Princess Consort is coughing up blood again!"
The household physician replied, trembling: "Your Highness... the Princess Consort's pulse is beyond saving..."
He refused to believe it.
Only when Shen Zhiwei grew weaker by the day did he lose his composure.
It was too late.
After her death, Pei Yan stubbornly moved everything into her bedchamber, yet could not even keep her body.
To his surprise, over time, he too had come to love her sincerely.
Now all that remained was a dream gone with the morning mist.
**
A year later, he saw her again at a medicine clinic and abandoned everything to pursue her.
But her master stopped him at the door. "She doesn't want to see you. If I had known this would happen, I never would have let her go with you."
Later, the new emperor Pei Yan went mad.
He gave up the world that lay within his grasp and knelt before her door on a snowy night, letting the snow pile above his knees.
When he saw her approaching with an umbrella, the last spark of wild joy kindled in his eyes. With frozen hands, he crawled toward her through the snow:
"Zhiwei, look... Without the world, I have nothing. There's nothing left. Please... come back."
But she tilted the umbrella slightly to shield him from the storm and looked calmly at the hem of her robe, which he was clutching.
"Your Majesty, please behave with dignity."
[The novel will begin once the full manuscript is complete]
Theme: Love is no more than a flickering spark along the road ahead.
