Scorched Jade

After being reborn, Zhuoyu found her family, only to discover that her noble and radiant royal brother, Rong Zhuo, was her husband in her previous life! It was too absurd. Zhuoyu avoided Rong Zhuo and refused to call him Brother. Fortunately, as time passed after her rebirth, she began to forget her previous life and got along with Rong Zhuo like a proper brother and sister. Even after his true identity came to light and he became Crown Prince, they remained closer than siblings by blood. But her brother grew stranger by the day. He doted on her, doing her hair and soothing her to sleep. Sometimes he kept his distance, his gentle gaze suppressing darkness and inner turmoil. He kept reassuring her, as if trying to convince himself as well: "We will always be siblings, just siblings." Until the eve of her wedding. The Crown Prince's Palace sent over her wedding dress, and Zhuoyu happily put it on. Then she realized her brother had been watching her from behind the screen the whole time. Suppressing her unease, she tugged at his sleeve and coaxed him playfully. "Don't worry! Husbands come and go, but you're my brother forever. No matter whom I marry, I'll always be your sister!" Rong Zhuo said nothing. He patiently did her hair in front of the mirror. After a long while, he suddenly said, "But I don't want to be only your brother. The man you marry, in this life or the last..." "Can only be me." He took off the wedding dress he'd prepared for her and undid the hair he'd styled, then tenderly kissed her forehead in the mirror. - After his long-lost royal sister was found, Rong Zhuo began having the same strange dream again and again. In the dream, he was still in the State of Zhao. Corrupt ministers held power and made him a puppet crown prince. They praised him as pure and unparalleled, like snow on bamboo, yet deliberately humiliated him by marrying him to the widow of his enemy. She was sly and adaptable, a fence-sitter who swayed whichever way the wind blew. Rong Zhuo knew he shouldn't fall for her, yet let her take root in him, entangling with her desperately in the darkness. But she died. Each dream became more complete than the last. With all the clues pointing to the younger sister he cherished, Rong Zhuo mocked himself for developing improper desires toward her because of an empty dream. He suppressed those thoughts and arranged a good marriage and a bright future for her. Until she accidentally fell into the water. The memories of his previous life burst through the floodgates. As his younger sister and her fiance stared at him in shock, Rong Zhuo suddenly pulled her into his arms, holding her so tightly it seemed to reach her bones. #SheForgotEverythingAboutTheirPreviousLife,ButHeRemembered# Reader's Guide: A noble and radiant but occasionally dark-hearted elder brother x a bright, catlike princess | Redemption in a tragic previous life; misunderstandings and a forced marriage in this life: 1) Both lives are mutually exclusive relationships. The male lead is four years older. 1v1, happy ending. The female lead is reborn at 14-15 and falls in love at 18. 2) They are not related by blood, and are not real siblings! At first, the female lead believes they are siblings due to incomplete information. While they believe they are related, there is no romantic development or suggestive contact between them. 3) The female lead got lost as a child. After being reborn, she finds out her true identity; she does not take over someone else's body. 4) After being reborn, the female lead gradually loses her memories of her previous life, while the male lead slowly remembers. Their memories are out of sync due to a twist of fate. The female lead will eventually remember everything again. Neither lead is perfect; they struggle with complicated feelings. Please avoid if that bothers you. More content warnings at the end of Chapter 1. 5) Set in an alternate Western Han dynasty, with many fictionalized details; not intended to withstand close scrutiny. The blurb and premise were written on 23/12/02 and lightly revised in 25/03. Screenshots have been saved! Theme: Sincerity can move even the hardest heart