The Emperor and the Thin Horse

[Yandere, scheming emperor x delicate, calculating beauty, taking her by force / powerful man grovels]

Lufu was the most beautiful courtesan in Yangzhou.

But on the night she was to be initiated, she couldn't bear the abuse and smashed the head of the high-ranking official who had bought her.

The cruel officials searched the entire city for her. Lufu fled into the mountains and, by chance, saved a young nobleman who had been attacked.

He wore a black robe and a jade belt. Anyone could tell he was a man of great distinction. Lufu clung to him as if he were her only hope, biting her red lip as she wound her arms around his neck.

"If you want to repay me, would you come back with me and be my guest?"

She didn't know she was embracing the crown prince. He recognized who she was, then waved her away in disgust as if brushing off a filthy insect.

"How can you be so shameless?"

But later, when she tried to leave and he instead trapped her in their bed curtains, taking whatever he pleased, Lufu thought deeply: He was the most shameless of them all.

*

Gu Huaizhen was the heir to the throne, a paragon of virtue whom the court officials admired and respected.

Naturally, he looked down on someone like Lufu from the bottom of his heart.

Ignorant, timid, shallow, and with no sense of dignity.

At first, he protected her on a whim, out of pity. If she chose to leave, he would be more than happy to let her go.

But as time passed, he gradually grew accustomed to her serving him tea and burning incense, and became addicted to her tenderness.

When he ascended the throne, Gu Huaizhen thought that taking a mere courtesan as a consort was already an enormous favor. She should be grateful.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Lufu received her free status, she couldn't wait to escape.

She turned her back on the past,

and agreed to marry a scholar.

On their wedding night, a torrential downpour fell.

The new emperor, usually so composed, was drenched in his dragon robe. Clutching the edict naming Lufu empress, he pulled a long sword from the scholar's chest. Its cold blade reflected Lufu's terrified face.

His hands were covered in blood as he lifted her delicate chin. His long eyes were sinister and unfathomable.

"Didn't you say you'd only trust me and rely on me for the rest of your life?"

"Didn't you say you couldn't go on living if you left me?"

"What, you're unhappy that I came to take you home?"

One-on-one, both leads are virgins. The male lead is virtuous, completely unhinged, cruel, and willing to do anything to claim her by force.

Coming next: After Keeping My Aloof, Distant Elder Brother at Arm's Length. False siblings / taking her by force / groveling to win her back

-

Xie Hengzhi was born into privilege and was exceptionally talented. By the age of twenty, he had become the Crown Prince's tutor. He was cold by nature, and no one dared approach him. He had never married.

That autumn night, as rain pattered against the window, Sang Rou, his clan's younger female cousin, who had moved into his home with her stepfather, came to him. Her tear-filled eyes turned up to him in misery. "Brother, save me. I don't want to be sold as a concubine to the old prince."

Her white dress was soaked through, revealing her graceful figure. Her intentions were unmistakable: she was offering herself in exchange for his help. Xie Hengzhi furrowed his brows, his hand tightening around the scroll.

He had no intention of taking advantage of her distress. With a few strokes of his brush, he arranged for her to enter the palace selection for female officials, putting an end to the farce.

But afterward, whenever they met at the Imperial Academy, Sang Rou would call him "Brother" this and "Brother" that, bring him snacks to brighten his day, and stick close to him from morning to night.

Everyone said she was madly in love with him. Xie Hengzhi remained cold and indifferent. He could tell the difference between genuine affection and ulterior motives.

Sang Rou endured three years of rejection without giving up. Then, on the night before Xie Hengzhi was due to leave the capital, she suddenly told him glumly that he was far too cold, and she was giving up.

Watching his younger cousin pretend to be dejected, Xie Hengzhi nearly laughed aloud. He didn't take her seriously. "It's good that you've come to your senses, little sister."

A palace coup broke out, and a prince rebelled.

Xie Hengzhi led troops to the capital overnight, but by the time he found Sang Rou, she had already been rescued by the young son of an official from the Ministry of Justice.

From that day on, Sang Rou truly changed.

She quickly fell in love and accepted the young man's marriage proposal. They were inseparable, and she called him "Brother" this and "Brother" that. She had truly turned cold toward Xie Hengzhi. Her smiles held nothing but politeness and respect, no trace of the former intimacy or infatuation.

At first, he only found it amusing. But as he watched the two of them constantly together, his discomfort gradually turned into a nameless irritation that gnawed at him day and night.

*

Sang Rou's father had died unjustly, her mother was timid, and her stepfather was a gambling addict. Not long after they arrived in the capital, he tried to sell her to an old prince in his seventies.

To escape that pit and avenge her father, Sang Rou had to find someone to rely on.

With nowhere else to turn, she wagered the only thing she had, her body, and knocked on Xie Hengzhi's door.

Three years later, she finally used his influence to find a clue that her father had been wronged, then turned her sights on the Ministry of Justice.

Her clan brother was so upright and magnanimous that even if he discovered she'd used him, he wouldn't hold it against her.

Besides, he had never liked her anyway.

On an auspicious day, with music and drums ringing out, Sang Rou wore a phoenix coronet and a red wedding robe. Smiling, she bid him farewell. "Everything I have today is thanks to your care, Brother. Please accept this bow from your little sister."

"Congratulations, little sister," Xie Hengzhi said with a smile. "But I still prefer it when you call me 'Brother.'"

Sang Rou looked up and met his dark, churning eyes. Suddenly, she shivered.

On her wedding day, the bride of the official's son vanished without a trace.

In a dark secret chamber, chains peeked out beneath her scarlet dress, clinking against her slender frame like jade pendants.

Xie Hengzhi pressed close to Sang Rou's ear and asked in a hoarse voice, "What kind of brother are you calling him now, Rou'er? You repaid him for saving your life with your body, but wasn't I the one who saved you first?"

The woman in his arms flinched in pain. He pressed her back down.

"Even if you meant to use me, you should have stayed faithful to me from beginning to end, shouldn't you?"

A seemingly pure but secretly sinister, aloof beauty x a gentle yet strong-willed beauty

Theme: You must cherish me, and I will cherish you.