Two Lives, Yet Still Trapped in the Poison King's Palm

This is a fantasy set in an alternate world. The story is entirely fictional, so please don't compare it with real history. ^_^

In the eyes of outsiders, she is graceful and aloof. Having lived two lifetimes, she sees power and status as fleeting. All she wants is inner peace and freedom.

He is a peerless warlord, powerful as a blazing moon in the night sky. His ambition and intelligence make him a force to be reckoned with at court, and everyone believes he will one day rule the realm. But in her eyes, he is nothing more than a speck of dust in this vast, bustling world.

There are only two things Chu Changyue wants to do in this life.

First, do everything in her power to protect her family and keep them from suffering the same fate as before, when their home was destroyed and they all met tragic ends.

Second, when she turns twenty, bind her hair as a sign that she will never marry, find a beautiful, peaceful place, and live a lazy, carefree life in retirement.

It all sounds wonderful, but the man she's been trying to avoid finds her ahead of schedule. He asks, “Yue'er, are you jealous?”

Chu Changyue replies, “There are two things I won't swallow in this life: vinegar and a loss.”

“Yue'er, my Yue'er...” he murmurs again and again, his voice filled with boundless tenderness and longing.

“I love you. I've loved you for two lifetimes...”

“Yue'er, my wife,” he says, his low, resonant voice ringing softly by her ear like the sweetest melody. “In this life and the next, from the highest heavens to the depths of the underworld, I will follow you in life and death, and never let you down.”