First Marriage, then love: wife, never divorce

She is an old spinster of average status. He is young and powerful, achieving the status of a high-ranking official of River City within just a few years. Their marriage is a mismatch that everyone whispers about -- a political arrangement that neither wanted and both endured. But the spinster wife is not the burden the young official expected. Behind the average status lies a woman of extraordinary intelligence, quiet competence, and a depth of character that the flashy women of River City cannot match. The official who married her as a political move discovers that the spinster he dismissed is the most capable partner he has ever had. As their arranged marriage deepens into genuine love, the young official realizes that the wife he was embarrassed to introduce to his colleagues is the one person who makes his empire function. The spinster who was never supposed to matter becomes the wife he would never divorce, and the first marriage that was supposed to be temporary becomes the most permanent and most valuable thing in his life.