THE INFAMOUS ROSE
An Ancient Rome Novel
By Mu Xing Hexun
Synopsis
✨ A Notorious Woman of Ancient Rome Versus a Scheming, Obsessive White Lotus ✨
◎ Tags: Strong Female and Male Leads ✅ Western Romance ✅ Historical Fiction ✅ Western Fantasy
◎ Theme: Everyone must take responsibility for their own choices.
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[All the male leads I write are Grade-S virgins]
Asteria, goddess of shooting stars, accidentally becomes embroiled in the God of Destruction's plot to overthrow Zeus while enjoying a little divine gossip, and is transported into the future.
–
She is reborn as Livia, a noblewoman of Rome—ambitious and ruthless.
In the age of Caesar, heroes and warlords vie for power, and political turmoil reigns.
She delights in secretly stirring up trouble, and even encounters a white lotus with an extraordinary advantage.
This breathtakingly beautiful, golden-haired youth is isolated and powerless, a consummate actor with a heart as black as pitch.
At nineteen, he rises meteorically to the very pinnacle of Roman power.
After their marriage, he makes her an eternal promise.
“Livia, do you know what ‘forever’ means?”
“You and I are perfectly matched. We were always destined to remain together for eternity.”
“Our names will be paired together forever, written side by side in the histories.”
She ought to be satisfied with being First Lady, serving as his “virtuous helpmate” and fighting at his side until they have defeated every political enemy.
Livia: Excuse me? In your dreams.
In truth, she has another identity.
That year, at sixteen, she disguised herself as a man and held the office of consul alongside him.
That is her secret.
–
Livia Drusilla fights her way from obscurity to the governorship of several provinces. As a woman, she returns to the summit of power, becomes one of a triumvirate whose authority surpasses that of the consuls, and ultimately becomes the Roman Empire's first “Augusta.”
Her husband, Gaius Octavius Thurinus, becomes the Roman Empire's “Augustus.”
This is how historians record Octavius's feelings for Livia: “He loved and respected her. Until the end of his life, the two never quarreled.”
Livia: The first half of that is factually incorrect. 🙂
Octavius: The second half is factually incorrect. 🙁
—–[A Guide to Reading]—–
The heroine has no special advantage stemming from divine powers; she relies entirely on her wits. The hero remains chaste. Strictly one-to-one romance, with a happy ending.
