Reborn as My Own Treacherous Self [Selfcest]

In his previous life, Xu Youning’s birth drew the attention of everyone in the realm.

His father, the emperor, had conquered Annam in the south and trounced Huru in the north, single-handedly creating the prosperous Liang Dynasty, with its vast territory and countless nations paying tribute. Yet he had been a late-born son, arriving only when his father was in his fifties.

His father once said, “My son Youning is the most dazzling pearl in this prosperous realm.”

But who could have guessed that this “pearl” would ascend the throne at eight, only to lose his country less than ten years later and be driven to his death in the palace by the Northern Di?

During the eleven days the enemy surrounded the city, Xu Youning looked back on his life.

If only he hadn’t mistaken his enemy for his father;

If only he hadn’t released a tiger back into the mountains;

If only he hadn’t been so naive, so foolish!

If only...

If only...

He slit his own throat with a blade and died at the age of seventeen.

When he opened his eyes again, he had become a member of the Xie clan: Xie Zhi.

In his previous life, the Xie clan had been steadfast loyalists. It was only a pity that Xu Youning had been blind to people’s true natures, and had not begun to entrust power to the Xie clan until the very end.

In this life, he had been reborn as Xie Zhi, carrying a boundless hatred with him.

He looked at the little emperor on the throne: innocent, lively, beautiful, and pure. Spoiled from birth, he knew nothing of the world, much less of what lay in store for him...

Didn’t he like mistaking his enemy for his father?

Fine. This time, Xie Zhi would be that enemy!

Xie Zhi maneuvered through the political arena, stopped at nothing, and became The Outcast, second only to the emperor and above all others, setting everything back on the right track.

In his eyes, Xu Youning was now nothing more than a puppet.

He could keep him alive or kill him, as he pleased!

But as he steeled himself in private, the little emperor beside him looked at him with tear-filled eyes and said in disbelief, “Xie Qing, what’s wrong? Your gaze just now felt so unfamiliar...!”

Seeing the hurt in the little emperor’s expression, Xie Zhi’s heart shattered.

He dropped to one knee, lifted the little emperor’s little foot, and personally put on his boot. “It’s nothing. Perhaps my mind was just muddled.”

The little emperor asked, “Is it better now?”

Xie Zhi replied, “Much better, Your Majesty.”

A feudal patriarch of a powerful minister with a tragic, doomed-love story in his hands, gong X A beautiful, innocent little emperor with a sweet-romance story in his hands, shou

Xie Zhi: “Aha, I really am a treacherous minister for the ages!”

Xu Youning: “Nonsense! Xie Qing is clearly a good person!”

Notes:

> The gong alone suffers from tragic, doomed love. He will not do even the tiniest thing to hurt the little emperor.

> Though the little emperor is innocent, he has an animal’s keen senses and intuition, and won’t do anything foolish.

Theme: Save a collapsing empire