The thing Jiang Xuan regretted most in her life was marrying into Prince Yu's household.
Prince Yu, Murong Yan, was a man of peerless virtue and grace. The world praised him as a wise prince.
Before Jiang Xuan married, she once caught a distant glimpse of him through a beaded curtain. That single look made her blush.
Later, an imperial decree of marriage was issued: "Jiang Xuan, second daughter of the Jiang family, is to be wed as the principal consort of Prince Yu."
She heard that Prince Yu had personally asked the emperor for the marriage.
Jiang Xuan lowered her head in delight.
After entering his household, Jiang Xuan observed her duties, conducting herself with virtue and discretion. She managed his inner household and dealt with the wives of court officials.
Although he was always distant and indifferent except in bed, she was the only woman he had all these years.
Jiang Xuan thought he probably loved her.
Until, after he ascended the throne, he sought to bring her elder sister, the former crown princess, into his harem, shaking the entire court.
Only then did Jiang Xuan learn that, back then, he had asked the late emperor to let him marry her elder sister.
Jiang Xuan knelt before the great hall, her slender figure bent low.
"Since Your Majesty insists on making my elder sister a consort, I beg Your Majesty to depose me and send me to the Cold Palace."
This was the only time in her life she had ever pressured him. As empress, she could not let her elder sister enter the palace as his sister-in-law, bringing disgrace upon the imperial family and throwing the court into turmoil.
But she knew he would hate her.
So what? Her heart had died long ago.
That year, shortly before the Lantern Festival, the empress passed away. The Forbidden City was draped in mourning, and the bells of national bereavement tolled.
Rumors spread among the people that Her Majesty the Empress had taken her own life.
Jiang Xuan never expected to be reborn, let alone to return to the time before she was married.
Since Heaven had shown her mercy,
this time, she would never again be the virtuous and demure Princess Yu.
*
Murong Yan worked diligently from dawn to dusk, personally attending to every matter. He died at his desk before the age of forty.
But he was reborn.
Murong Yan had been waiting for the emperor to decree his marriage to Jiang Xuan.
He thought that in his previous life, he had wronged her and had died with his heart set on her.
In this life, he would make it up to her a hundredfold.
But at the imperial family banquet that day, he watched her kneel before the empress and request a decree marrying her to a distant cousin from the Jiang family.
Murong Yan clenched his fists.
2023.10
Theme: The courage to start over.
