Empress's Favor: The Emperor Closes In

【HE + Double Clean + Male Lead's Longstanding Scheme + Female Lead Falls in Love After Marriage + Obsessive Emperor From Hidden Restraint to Frenzied Love + Talented and Beautiful, Nation-Toppling Illness-Stricken Beauty】

Gu Xi intentionally hid her talents and beauty since childhood, originally the most inconspicuous of the capital's official ladies. She never imagined that one day she would enter the palace and become an imperial concubine.

Even more unexpectedly, while being cautious in the palace, she accidentally discovered the Emperor's secret, and at some unknown point, he had also seen through her disguise.

She thought that as long as she didn't receive favor or contend for it, she could live a stable life in the palace, but to her surprise, he repeatedly intruded into her life.

She thought she was, at most, a pawn, yet he bestowed upon her the affection of the entire harem, gradually enticing her, step by step conquering her, and ultimately making her lose her heart.

She thought his feelings for her were merely a show, but when the buried truths were revealed one by one, she realized how wrong she had been. It turned out he was deeply affectionate.

***

For Xiao Heng, she was salvation, a long-cherished delusion, a ray of light in his darkest life; he was determined to have her.

When his brother wished to marry her, he sent him to the border, severing their correspondence. When his minister was smitten with her, he bestowed a marriage upon him, crushing his hopes.

When his concubine dared to humiliate her, he banished the woman to the cold palace, granting Gu Xi unprecedented imperial favor.

He saw through her avoidance and pressed closer, attempting to conquer her, but ultimately received her words: "Your concubine has never loved Your Majesty."

At that moment, he lost all his pride as an emperor, wishing only to ask her: "Gu Xi, do you even have a heart?"

***

For Gu Xi, he was a growing affection over time, a deepening entanglement; she loved cautiously yet wholeheartedly, only to end up with a heart full of wounds. Now she no longer wanted to love, but he said to her:

"I forbid it! How can you not love me!"

"I command you! Continue to love me, alright?"

"Gu Xi, I just don't know how to love you so that you can love me?"

***

For Bai Xingzhi, she was an accident, a fatal attraction, an uncontrollable desire, and also a regret he could never turn back from after getting what he wanted.

"I've wondered more than once, if that day I had given up everything and returned to find you, would the person standing by your side now be me?"

***

For Xiao Che, she was the childhood friend rooted in his heart, the person he would fight to protect with his life, and his hidden, bittersweet secret in his midnight dreams.

"Xiao Xi, did you ever, even a little, like me?"

"Brother Che, please let me go, alright?"

"No! Xiao Xi, you were mine, it was Imperial Brother who snatched you from me!"

【Reading Tips】

1. Slow-burn emotional story, plot serves emotion. 2. Characters appear in order: Male Support 2 - Male Support 3 - Male Lead. The male and female leads officially meet in Chapter 9; in the first few chapters, the male lead is secretly scheming. 3. The female lead is gentle, intelligent, and cares for the world; she's a Mary Sue whom everyone loves.

4. The male lead is starved for love, deeply infatuated, highly possessive, contentious, and willing to humble himself for love. 5. The female lead is a growth-type, evolving from cautiousness to utilizing power to achieve her ideals. 6. The male lead is on a redemption arc, from being full of hatred to caring for the female lead and then showing compassion for all beings. 7. The male lead is restrained in the early stages, then exhibits forced love in the mid-to-late stages, with both sweet and angsty moments, heartbreak but no physical abuse.