One Life a Prisoner, Two Lives a Caged Bird

“If there's another life, I hope we'll remain strangers forever.” Those were her last words before she died, the final light in her eyes going out completely.

He ordered them to cut open her still-warm body and take out the crying baby girl. “You don't get to choose. If you leave, she has to live... and stay with me.”

Her soul lingered, watching as he froze her body in ice and forced their young daughter to pay her respects to her mother's remains every day, preventing her from passing on and being reincarnated. Then a Taoist priest claimed he could help her be reborn, but it turned out to be the beginning of an even greater conspiracy.

When she opened her eyes again, she was the legitimate daughter of a wealthy merchant, making plans for a carefree life. Then she heard that the entire city was searching for sixteen-year-old girls whose birth charts matched a certain set. The man seated high on the Dragon Throne was stroking the jade hairpin she had loved most in her previous life, smiling as he said, “This time, I've even paved the way for your next reincarnation.”

To put it simply, from the male lead's perspective: love too deep to last, I love you and you love me, and now you want to run?!

From the female lead's perspective: What the hell is wrong with him? He already killed me once. I finally get to live again, so why wouldn't I run? Do I want to die?!

Tags: Forced Possession + Obsessive, Unhinged Male Lead + Overwhelming Possessiveness + Rebirth and Reincarnation + Angsty Romance with a Happy Ending

I ran after being reborn when the tyrant emperor cut me open to take the baby!