After a Misalliance, Liu Fuxi Learns That This Madman Has Been Coveting Her in Secret for Years
[The aloof beauty with a need for touch vs. the honest, sweet girl kept in a gilded cage, seduced step by step]
[Enemies to Lovers | Intense Push and Pull | Unhinged Secret Crush]
The Prince of Zhaowu had a secluded residence in the capital.
Its flowers and trees were planted to suit Liu Fuxi's tastes.
The small kitchen could make the crystal dumplings she loved.
His study held the storybooks she had read long ago.
Beside the bed curtains, there was always a length of soft silk.
Whenever Shen Chengmei went out, he would use it to tie her wrist to the headboard.
Bending down, he would tell her, "Qianqian, wait for me to come back."
Bound by him, Liu Fuxi said, "Shen Chengmei, you're insane."
Shen Chengmei tucked the brocade quilt around her and murmured,
"I've been insane for four years."
*
A mistaken marriage had given Shen Chengmei the person he had never dared hope to have in this lifetime.
But having his wish granted only made him crave more.
He wanted to keep Liu Fuxi in the gilded cage he had built with his own hands,
so that her joys and sorrows, her life and death, whether she stayed or left, would all be in his hands.
Liu Fuxi was supposed to marry the young master of the Fang family.
On the eve of the wedding, her elder sister, Liu Furou, returned reborn and secretly switched their marriages.
She thought she had stolen her younger sister's future as empress from her previous life.
She also thought her sister would take her place in a cold marriage with the Shen family.
Shen Chengmei came from an eminent family. A noble and refined young man, he was cold-hearted and sharp-tongued.
In his previous life, he married Liu Furou, and they spent their whole lives treating each other with icy respect.
In this life, he married Liu Fuxi.
Everyone said Liu Fuxi was unfortunate to have been mistakenly married to the most unapproachable man in the capital.
But Liu Furou didn't know the truth.
Shen Chengmei had been cold in his previous life because the person in his heart had never been her.
Liu Fuxi had always thought Shen Chengmei disliked her.
Back when she visited the Shen residence to see her friend, he stopped her.
When she came to say goodbye before her wedding, he mocked her for failing to keep her distance.
When she got absorbed in her storybooks, he watched with cold indifference.
But she didn't know that he had kept that water-damaged storybook hidden for many years.
After she casually said that she couldn't bear to see fish die, he never fished again.
She disliked dragon's breath incense, so after they married, he stopped burning it.
On the night of the mistaken wedding, Liu Fuxi wanted to return to the Fang family.
Shen Chengmei took her there.
But Fang Wenxuan had already consummated his marriage with Liu Furou.
With nowhere else to go, she could only return to the Shen residence.
She said, "If I stay, I have conditions."
Before she could finish,
Shen Chengmei said, "I'll agree to them all."
They had been happy together once, for three months.
Then a misunderstanding arose, and Shen Chengmei donned his armor and went to Nanzhao.
He was gone for four years.
Liu Fuxi suffered a miscarriage, grew frail, and lost heart.
When she saw him again, she was already the dignified and gentle Princess of Zhaowu.
She called him, "Your Highness."
Shen Chengmei laughed when he heard it.
From then on, spring was locked away, and an old dream became a prison.
The Prince of Zhaowu trapped her, and trapped himself as well.
All he wanted was one thing:
for Liu Fuxi to turn around and look at him once.
Liu Fuxi feared his disdain.
Shen Chengmei feared she would leave.
[Misallied Enemies | Unhinged Secret Crush | A Golden Cage for His Beloved | Rekindled Love]
Reader's Guide: No infidelity, but a very angsty story. Neither lead is good at communicating, and both carry psychological wounds, including a strong sense of being unworthy and trauma responses. When faced with love, they instinctively panic, retreat, and defend themselves. This story focuses on the characters' deep emotional struggles and inner turmoil, with relatively little external conflict.
The story contains many scenes of antagonists emotionally abusing and psychologically manipulating the protagonists (PUA). Readers with people-pleasing tendencies, severe abandonment anxiety, or past emotional wounds caused by loved ones should proceed with caution, as the story may trigger psychological trauma and stress responses.
Theme: Learning to love others well, and bravely accepting love.
