After I Was Reborn, the Prince Consort Loved Me but Couldn't Have Me

[Writing in progress. This will be my next novel.]

As she lay dying, Zhao Ying looked back on her arrogant, domineering life. The one person who had ever truly bested her was Yan Shaoxi.

As the Great Yu dynasty's eldest princess, Zhao Ying was cherished by her imperial parents, revered by her twin brother, the crown prince, and feared by every consort and court official.

During the spring hunt at Xishan that year, Yan Shaoxi saved her life. The handsome young man crouched before her, his features bright and refined, and gently asked, "Your Highness, are you hurt?"

At a glance, Zhao Ying fell for him.

Later, when Emperor Jing asked whom she wanted to marry, Zhao Ying named him. The emperor shook his head regretfully. "Shaoxi is a fine man, but he is already engaged. Why not choose someone else?"

Choose someone else? She was the dignified eldest princess. She never settled for someone else. If anyone was going to be replaced, it would be the other woman.

She plotted to spend a night with him. Sure enough, when Yan Shaoxi awoke, he was stricken with anguish, yet still broke off his engagement and asked to marry the princess to take responsibility.

But over the years of their marriage, all they shared were angry arguments and cold indifference. A marriage won through scheming had no chance of winning his heart. And when Emperor Jing died, her younger brother was still a child, and foreign enemies invaded, leaving the Great Yu dynasty in turmoil, Yan Shaoxi brazenly brought his former fiancee, whose husband had just died, into their home.

He called it an act of compassion: he owed her, and an old acquaintance in trouble deserved help.

Zhao Ying: Bullshit!

When she opened her eyes again, she was back on the day he had saved her. Given another life...

Zhao Ying still handed him that cup of wine. Whatever entanglements Yan Shaoxi might have with his precious fiancee in the future, she would enjoy the first taste of this fresh soup.

Let that disgust her to death!

After a night together, Yan Shaoxi awoke and knelt by the bed, anguished. "I have offended Your Highness and deserve a thousand deaths. If Your Highness would have me, I humbly ask to marry you."

Zhao Ying planted a foot on his shoulder and kicked him to the ground. "No need. It was only a fleeting affair. The young general needn't take it to heart."

The next day, she invited the sons of prominent families to go sightseeing. Turning around, she saw the man standing beneath a distant tree, watching her with a solemn expression.

Theme: Those who fall in love cannot easily break free