He Regretted It Too Late After I Died

When I was a demon, a cultivator held me in the palm of his hand, kept me close in his arms, and doted on me for many years. He betrayed his sect for me, abandoned everything, and in the end even lost his life.

I was loved as a matter of course, and never thought a mortal's devotion amounted to much.

Everyone said I was cold by nature, born without a heart.

I looked at the empty cavity in my chest, calmly admitted it, and thought nothing of it.

Until many years after his death, I failed my tribulation, and he became my inner demon.

And I found him again... in the form of his reincarnation.

But the one he held in his arms and cherished in the palm of his hand was someone else.

He no longer spared me a glance. For the sake of his new favorite, he belittled me, scorned me, bullied me, and humiliated me.

He even... burned the beautiful feathers he had once praised.

As I lay dying, I suddenly understood that the person who had reincarnated was no longer him.

I returned to his grave, pried open the coffin, and lay down inside.

My original form had lost its beautiful feathers. Bald and ugly, I looked a perfect match for his skeletal remains.

As the flames of rebirth rose, I held his bones and thought: This is the real him, the one who would love me forever.

From the male lead's perspective:

He had no heart. After undergoing seven lifetimes of tribulations, he still could not return to his divine station. Only when someone offered him a phoenix heart and he swallowed it did he develop human emotions and successfully pass his tribulation.

After returning to his divine station, he sought out the child who had given him their heart, and doted on them without conditions.

The child enjoyed tormenting a little demon, so he plucked out the little demon's feathers one by one and burned them for the child's amusement.

Only after the bald, ugly little demon had been gone for a long time

did he come to that lonely grave and realize he had sought out the wrong person.

At last, he understood that the trial of love he faced was bound to the original owner of this heart.

He had mistaken one person for another and done terrible things. He had destroyed the person he loved with his own hands.

The little phoenix he had once held in his palm and cherished in his arms had died of heartbreak because of him, and burned to ash.

☆ The main story is told in third person, happy ending, groveling pursuit of a wife, old-school melodramatic tragic romance

☆ A flawed protagonist who grows over time

Theme: Don't wait until you've lost someone to regret it. Cherish the person by your side