After Disguising Herself as the White Moonlight, She Usurped the Throne

A beautiful, strong, and tragic orphan girl and a seemingly gentle but secretly ruthless deposed emperor

As the former useless daughter of a military family, Lang Zhao once had a very clear plan for her life: eat, wait to die, and marry the Crown Prince.

Then a fire burned away her family's wealth, her backing, and her identity.

She had no choice but to reinvent herself and find a new line of work.

"Plot"

In the winter of Ji Cheng's sixteenth year, the Lang family was slaughtered despite their many military achievements. Lang Zhao was framed and ended up in a den of poisoners on the border. After countless hardships, she made it back to the capital, only to discover that the dynasty had changed and her enemy was sitting securely on the throne.

She nearly died of rage. No one could have guessed that she would change her name to Pei Yan, first become the emperor's private aide, then a substitute Noble Consort, and finally seize the palace and rule in her own right.

#The substitute-romance heroine discovers a bug that lets her beat the story without self-torture#

(Note: The male lead of this substitute romance is the novel's primary antagonist.)

"Romance"

"My worthy husband helps me reach for the clouds, and I'll reward him with ten thousand taels of gold."

She had thought emperors were all faithless, but while Jing Yanchu was still heir to the throne, he had the finest gems in Yu Kingdom polished for Lang Zhao, who had faked her death to escape, and set them in a hairpin to honor their engagement, now little more than a name.

He said, "I once prayed for it at Wuxiang Temple. May this hairpin accompany you, ward off misfortune, and bring you lasting peace and happiness."

But fate always changes people beyond recognition.

Lang Zhao ended up the lowest slave in a den of poisoners, hidden from the sun. Jing Yanchu ascended the throne, was attacked, forced to abdicate, and driven into exile.

Fate brought them together again, but in the most bitterly ironic scene: the deposed emperor, fleeing for his life, came upon the fallen orphan girl to whom he had been engaged in their youth.

They fumbled and fussed, drew close and drifted apart, broke up and reconciled, and eventually found their happy ending.

"Reading Guide"

1. No System, no rebirth, no transmigration.

2. Fictional setting with original worldbuilding.

3. Both leads are sexually inexperienced.

Theme: The winner has yet to be decided.