Reborn: The Princess Awakens

[Strong Female Lead, Career-Focused]

Though Xiao Qiang was a princess, her father, the emperor, placed great hopes in her. From a young age, she studied the art of governing, and her father often told her, "You are the only princess of Great Qi. In the future, you must do everything in your power to help the Crown Prince ascend the throne."

So Xiao Qiang worked diligently, studying hard and treating her duty to help her younger brother become emperor as her life's guiding principle.

When she was fifteen, her father suddenly told her that the Crown Prince was not of royal blood. Her true mission was to depose him and take his place!

She could not bring herself to act against him, out of regard for their sibling bond. Who could have guessed that Crown Prince Xiao Jin would strike first, kill the emperor, and seize the throne?

She was utterly defeated, becoming a sinner in the eyes of the world, accused of killing her father and harming her mother. She fell from the heights of princesshood to the lowly status of a prisoner and slave.

Long, long afterward, the reborn empress looked down at the condemned prisoner dying at her feet and said coldly, "Without respect, how can there be love?"

[New Upcoming Novel from the Author's Profile: The Princess Consort Is an Illustrator]

Shen Shuyun was an outstanding illustrator. After dying from overwork, she transmigrated into the body of a concubine-born daughter of the prime minister and married Gu Xihe, a foolish prince who had lost his wits after being injured.

Though the prince was simple-minded, the Prince Rui's household was wealthy and powerful. Shen Shuyun settled into a relaxed life of academic research and drinks with cultural luminaries.

Passionate about preserving culture, she resolved to leave precious historical records for future scholars. Without even realizing it, she helped advance the cultural life of the Great Zhou dynasty and enrich the spiritual lives of ordinary people.

She was a detached observer of history, but Prince Rui was like a little sun, melting her cold, long-sealed heart.

The famed God of War, Prince Rui, was accidentally poisoned and lost his mind. A miraculous physician fought to save his life, and though badly injured, he kept pretending to be a fool to conceal his identity. Then his father hastily arranged a marriage, forcing him to wed Shen Shuyun, the prime minister's concubine-born daughter.

Having once been bitten by a snake, he saw everyone as a potential enemy. But after testing her again and again, he found himself giving her his heart.

As the number of friends around his wife grew, Prince Rui became consumed with jealousy. Risking exposure, he put on a secret identity to get close to her, begging for her attention and affection. Thus began his long road to winning her heart.

One lie required countless others to cover it up. Prince Rui constantly swung between being lucid and pretending to be a fool, suffering miserably as matters gradually slipped out of his control and took an unbelievable turn...

One day, unable to control himself while disguised, he passionately confessed his feelings and demanded of his wife, "You have to choose one of us, me or Prince Rui!"

The princess consort swept away. The next day, she sent him a comic titled The God of War's Past. On the title page was the author's inscription: "Everything I imagine a hero to be comes from him. The God of War of Great Zhou deserves to be known throughout the world."

Gu Xihe, holding the comic, was beside himself. It seemed like he had been rejected, but maybe not completely?

Only belatedly did Shen Shuyun realize that the foolish husband she'd been raising like a big cat seemed different from before.

[Reading Guide]

Shen Shuyun: A reserved, celibate cultural preservationist

Gu Xihe: An immature prince who pretends to be a fool, has an active inner life, and suffers from paranoia

A fictional dynasty with a cultural mash-up of many eras.

Theme: Without respect, how can there be love?