Your Majesty, the Closer We Get, the More You Hate Me?

[Coldhearted Emperor vs. Unhinged Darling]

She transmigrates into the legitimate daughter of the Prince of Jin'an-a disposable character doomed to die early in the novel.

Spoiled, extravagant, and debauched? She admits it.

Unhinged and vicious? She admits that too.

But expecting her to obediently wait for death? Dream on.

The male lead who comes to Jinzhou seeking evidence of her father, the Prince of Jin'an, plotting rebellion is Zongzheng Heng, the Emperor of Great Zhang.

If he wants to spend a month as her male plaything, he can hardly blame her for taking things to extremes.

She knows his heart belongs to his unattainable love, Su Yunyan. For her sake, he has suppressed marriage proposals and delayed selecting consorts, waiting for the day he can welcome her into the palace.

How devoted.

But she doesn't want his devotion.

She wants to tame him.

A water dungeon, a whip, a powder that destroys martial prowess.

Kneel. Obey. Call me Shushu.

Nothing is more thrilling than taming an emperor.

Over that month, the closer they become, the more he hates her-and the less he can resist losing himself in her.

At first, he says, "Once I find the evidence, I will have her killed-cut into a thousand pieces."

Later, he changes his tune. "Spare her life. I will torment her myself."

Qiao Shuyi smiles.

A month later, she fakes her death while pregnant, leaving him to miss her for two years, yearn for her for two years, and hate her for two years.

Two years later, with absolute power in his grasp, he embarks on a southern tour. She returns with "amnesia."

Yet Zongzheng Heng has actually kept himself chaste for his beloved, bestowing his favor on Su Yunyan alone...

*

When they meet again two years later-

Zongzheng Heng never imagined that the madwoman he believed dead would be seducing Su Yunyan's elder brother, her smile radiant as a flower.

Enraged, he knocks her unconscious with a single palm strike and carries her straight away.

But when she wakes, she shrinks back, her eyes filled with panic.

"Who... are you?"

Zongzheng Heng freezes on the spot.

*

Zongzheng Heng hates her, but in the end-

He sheds his clothes and his refinement, and upon her body, finds both enlightenment and madness.

Content Warnings: The emperor male lead is not sexually inexperienced. The female lead is unhinged, vicious, and a master of psychological manipulation.