A Yan was reborn, returned to the time when she was not yet a year old.
Back then, her mother was trying to take her own life, and her father was losing his mind.
It was all because her father had taken her mother by force, leaving her with no way to escape.
An irreverent storyteller once said that the emperor and empress were the perfect example of a tragic romance: faking one's death, her fleeing while he pursued, locking her away, turning evil...
A Yan listlessly glanced at her parents, still so young, and thought only of the many people who had died because of their love and hatred.
Most of all, she remembered her mother leaping from the city wall, and her father bathing the imperial palace and the capital in blood. That sea of red had haunted A Yan all her life.
At first, A Yan had planned to starve herself to death. She didn't want to look upon this world again.
But her mad father suddenly clamped a hand around her neck, forcing her to cry so he could torment her mother, who was desperately seeking death.
As she grew dizzy from the suffocation and felt the pain in her throat, A Yan suddenly changed her mind. In her heart, she said:
Father, Mother, forgive me. Your daughter has decided to be an unfilial daughter for once.
*
Year Four of Chongguang.
The one-year-old eldest princess fed the emperor a pastry made by the empress. The emperor was poisoned and thought the empress was trying to kill him. They had a huge fight: he was poisoned to the heart, and she was stripped of her phoenix seal.
Year Six of Chongguang.
The empress jumped into a lake, and the three-year-old eldest princess jumped in after her. The emperor rushed over and thought the empress was trying to take their daughter with her to die. They fought again: his old illness flared up, and she was confined to the central palace.
Year Eight of Chongguang.
The second princess, born to Consort Su, pushed the eldest princess off a rockery. The eldest princess said a few words to the empress, who thought this was a sign that the emperor was about to turn against her family. She and the emperor had another huge fight.
Little A Yan rested her chin in her hands, watching the chaos in the emperor's chambers like it was a play, and wondered how much of the emperor's love was left to wear away.
A handsome young man came up behind her and touched her wound with a slender fingertip. “Princess Yan, does it hurt?”
*
The empress named her eldest daughter Yan.
When the name was submitted to the Imperial Clan Court, the young man accompanying them changed the character to Yan.
Yan: loathing, weariness.
Yan: clear skies, brightness, peace, and ease.
Reader's Guide:
1. The emperor and empress are a couple bound by a forced relationship, surrounded by bloodshed and death.
2. The heroine suffers greatly because of them. After being reborn, she appears sweet but is ruthless within, and is determined to break up her parents.
3. The male lead seems gentle, but is secretly ruthless. In the heroine's eyes, he should always be someone who stands in the clean spring breeze.
Theme: Love means restraint.