The Mad Marquis's Darling

Gu Qingci opened her eyes, the burning pain of poisoned wine still lingering in her throat.

Outside, celebratory music thundered as the Third Prince’s betrothal gifts were carried into the marquis’s estate.

In her previous life, she had accepted those gifts, and her entire family had been wiped out.

She threw off the covers and got out of bed. Taking the betrothal letter, she tore it to shreds and told Qingdai to send everything back exactly as it had arrived, along with a note:

“Keep it, Your Highness. You’ll need it to prepare your own coffin.”

All of the capital said the Northguard Marquis’s beautiful, useless daughter had gone mad.

No one knew she was perfectly clearheaded this time around.

She began secretly investigating old cases, digging up hidden connections, and dismantling the Third Prince’s allies. She made every move carefully, yet someone had always gotten there first.

The day she set a trap in a teahouse, she had just put out the bait when the door was kicked open.

Xiao Yuan strode in, sat down across from her, and propped his legs on the table. “So the useless girl knows how to dig a pit? Dig one for me too.”

Gu Qingci splashed tea at him. “Get lost.”

He really did leave. Beneath the broken porcelain was a sheet of paper. Someone had circled three flaws in her plan in red ink, followed by a line:

“Next time you ask me for help, bring two jars of Peach Blossom Brew from Zuixian Residence.”

Later, she searched his entire estate and found a hairpin at the bottom of an old box, engraved with her maiden name.

Holding it up, she asked him, “Who are you, really?”

Xiao Yuan’s roguish grin disappeared. He was quiet for a long time.

“Gu Qingci, I came back three years before you. The day you died in your previous life, I was at the border. I rode for three days and three nights, but by the time I reached the execution ground, you…”

He didn’t finish. She saw his eyes turn red.

Later, when the Third Prince held a blade to her throat, Xiao Yuan dismounted and tossed away his sword.

“Let her go. Take my life instead.”