Ten Years in Armor for a Heart of Ice: Reborn, I Refuse to Be a Stepping Stone

Ten years in iron armor, dressed in red; ten thousand miles of yellow sand, where the dead lie buried.

The glorious military achievements I won by taking my father’s place in the army became the stepping stone to my family’s wealth and status.

The day I faked my death and returned to the capital, my father called me a traitor who had deceived the emperor. My mother said that as the eldest daughter, I should accept my fate. My younger brother urged me to be grateful to the adopted sister who stole my identity.

They took the first-rank dukedom I had earned with my life, lived on the land I had protected, and even let my adopted sister use my military achievements to marry into the Eastern Palace.

It wasn’t until Prince Jun said, “She doesn’t look like her,” that they grew afraid.

At the birthday banquet, a cup of poison offered with a gentle smile left my throat severed and my fingers mutilated, and destroyed my martial arts. They had never wanted me alive. They wanted my military achievements to be thoroughly “dead.”

The yellow sands couldn’t bury me, but my own family wanted to grind my bones to dust.

When I opened my eyes again, I was standing before the Duke’s mansion, dressed in plain clothes and covered in wounds.

This time, I don’t hope for a family reunion or long for affection.

You want wealth and status? Then I’ll tear down your boundless splendor.

You want military glory? Then I’ll lay bare ten years of hardship before the entire court.

My adopted sister wants to marry the Crown Prince? Let’s see if the real daughter agrees first.

Prince Jun thinks I don’t look like her? I’ll stand before him and let him see who the “brother” who once fought and bled at his side really was.

The crime of deceiving the emperor? I defended the land of Great Jing and protected countless homes. What crime have I committed?

You’ll repay me a thousand times over for everything you owe!

In this life, I’m the one who survived the bloodshed and blades, the true General Who Guards the Nation!