[Resilient, unhinged beauty x paranoid, sinister crown prince]
[Coercive love / Rebirth / Reconciliation after heartbreak / Marriage before love / The pursuer's road to redemption / The powerful one bows his head]
Luo Wanning died on a snowy winter night.
In her previous life, she spent seven years in the Eastern Palace, obeying the violent-tempered crown prince in everything and as meek as a deer in the forest.
Until her father and brother met with disaster, and she knelt in the snow, kowtowing.
"I beg Your Highness... show mercy to the Luo family."
No one answered. Only the concubine's moans came from the warm chamber, where embroidered curtains bearing mandarin ducks cast the shadows of two entwined figures.
She still refused to leave.
After a long while, the crown prince strolled out of the warm chamber in a fox-fur cloak, his collar still smudged with rouge.
His gaze swept indifferently over her frozen body. He casually ordered his attendant, "The Luo family has committed treason. Execute every last one of them."
With a few light words, he doomed her entire family.
At last, her heart turned to ashes.
That night, she drove a jade hairpin into her throat. She felt no pain at all.
*
Reborn at fifteen, Luo Wanning burned the contract in front of her father. "Your daughter would rather marry into a poor family than enter the Eastern Palace!"
The husband she chose was gentle and kind. Their future would surely be harmonious.
On her wedding day, she finally tasted freedom again. As gongs and drums blared in the front courtyard, she staggered into the crabapple grove with half a pot of daughter's red wine in hand.
Who would have guessed that, the moment she looked up, she would see a cloak of white fox fur?
Li Jinyi leaned against a veranda pillar, her disheveled hair reflected in his eyes. "The bride looks more full of life like this than she does in the wedding hall. Why not come with me? You can be this happy every day."
His voice was as gentle as a love confession, yet his words startled the wine cup from her hand.
Luo Wanning stumbled backward. Even after being reborn, she still couldn't escape this man...
*
A little over ten days later, the groom she had chosen met with an "unfortunate accident." The man's brocade robe was spattered with the groom's blood.
Yet by the coffin, he passionately kissed and embraced her, then coolly wiped the crimson from his lips.
From then on, she was imprisoned in the Eastern Palace day after day, as if she had fallen back into the same trap as her previous life...
If she couldn't escape, and she had to give herself to someone anyway, she might as well climb to a higher branch. With that thought, Luo Wanning gritted her teeth and set her sights on the current emperor.
That night, she put on elaborate makeup, bribed the palace servants, and sneaked into the emperor's bedchamber.
On the dragon bed, her heart pounded with anxiety, but she heard no footsteps for a long time.
At last, the palace doors burst open, and the night wind swept in, carrying a chill. Li Jinyi stood outside in black robes, his dark hair framing eyes filled with terrifying fury.
The palace doors slammed shut.
She fell in terror beside the bed, only for someone to grab her by the waist and lift her up.
"Since you'd rather seek out that old man than beg me..."
Her clothes were ruthlessly torn away, and his burning breath brushed her ear. "Then I'll make you understand who you should be begging."
Reading notes:
1. Resilient, unhinged beauty x paranoid, sinister crown prince.
2. Both leads are virgins. The male lead has his reasons, and is faithful in body and heart, but the female lead will not forgive him.
3. The dynasty is fictional. Please don't nitpick the historical details.
Theme: Fear no darkness, and keep your heart turned toward the light.
