Marrying the Heir Who Had a Crush on Me for Nine Years

Shen Qi, the legitimate daughter of the Grand Tutor's household, was named County Lady of Anping at a young age. She seemed to have everything, but her mother died early, her stepmother ruled the household, and she had to tread carefully every day. An imperial edict arranged her marriage to Xiao Lin, heir to Prince Jing: the cold-faced young noble rumored to bring death to his wives. His previous three fiancées had all died in “accidents.” The whole capital was betting she wouldn't survive three days. Shen Qi also thought she had married an icicle. After the wedding, she discovered that when she casually mentioned wanting to hear the rain in Jiangnan, he built a Rain-Listening Pavilion overnight. When someone made things difficult for her at a palace banquet, that person's family suffered an “unforeseen disaster” the next day. She thought he disliked her, until she found portraits in a hidden compartment in his study: one for every year since she came of age. One portrait a year, not a single one missing. They began when she was ten and continued through the year she turned seventeen. It turned out this imperial marriage had been his plan all along, years in the making. It turned out he had waited for her for nine years.