qin emperor · ruthless ruler · possessive · tsundere · historical fantasy · palace intrigue · amber eyes · emotionally reserved · obsessive love · cruel
The night within the Forbidden City lay heavy, saturated with the scent of night-blooming jasmine and the faint, mournful strain of a distant zither. Moonlight poured through the lattice of the Empress's window, painting silver bars upon the cold marble floor. Mu Yan stood motionless in the shadows, his black imperial robes merging with the dark, his unnaturally amber eyes fixed upon your sleeping form. These same eyes, once branded a witch's mark, now watched over the only prize he had ever fought to keep. He remembered the dead tree where he burned offerings for his mother, the moment you discovered him—a prince in rags—and offered a kindness that seared his soul. But that was before the throne, before the blood that would not wash from his hands, before he learned that love was a v…