[Both leads are reborn + career-focused heroine + love-struck hero + groveling-to-win-her-back romance + loyal second male lead + open ending]
[A spoiled yet driven heroine building her career × a remorseful crown prince who no longer hides his deep love]
The spoiled and radiant Empress Shen Qingci discovers that her childhood sweetheart, Emperor Xiao Jingheng, plans to take a concubine for the sake of the greater good. Desperate, she dies with him. When she opens her eyes again, she has returned to her unmarried girlhood. In this life, she cuts ties with love and devotes herself to her career, opening restaurants and making scented creams as she builds a thriving business. She vows never to set foot in the palace again.
He watches her pupils slowly fade. Reflected in them are his own dying, distorted face, along with fragments of their past: her sly smile beneath the peach tree, her dozing against him in the study, her trembling fingers on their wedding night, and the fragile way she leaned against him in silent tears after losing their child...
“Heh...” Xiao Jingheng lets out a low laugh, filled with boundless sorrow and acceptance. The hand gripping her neck goes limp. Then, with the last of his strength, he gently, tremblingly strokes her cold cheek.
“...Fine.” The word escapes him in a breath, flecked with blood. “As you wish.”
Reborn as well, Xiao Jingheng watches the spoiled childhood sweetheart he betrayed in his past life avoid him like the plague in this one, and is consumed with regret. He sets aside his pride, secretly clearing obstacles from her path while cautiously trying to get close to her.
“A Ci, in this life, I want only you.”
“Your Highness, I would never presume to enter your harem.”
