[Free-spirited foreign prince × scheming, calculating, flirtatious eldest princess]
In the seventh year of the Shenzhi reign, the Great Yan army defeated the fourteen tribes of Liaoshuo and drove them into a desperate retreat to Mount Tianyu.
To save her people, the King of Liaoshuo sent one of his princes to Great Yan as a hostage.
No one knew that the youngest prince had secretly followed the envoys into the capital of Great Yan.
**
In the third month of the following year, Shen Huaiyuan, the emperor's most beloved fifth princess of Great Yan, fell in love at first sight with a foreign youth at a flower-viewing banquet.
The young man, named Changqing, claimed to have no family and said he had drifted to the capital, where he worked as a guard just to make ends meet.
Smitten with him, Shen Huaiyuan knelt outside her father's chambers for three days and finally obtained an imperial decree arranging their marriage.
In the first year of their marriage, they were inseparable, blissfully in love.
In the second year, they were estranged in spirit, though they shared a bed.
In the third year, the army of the King of Liaoshuo invaded the capital, and Great Yan fell.
**
Amid the smoke and ruins, the fallen princess Shen Huaiyuan recognized the enemy general atop a tall horse, fighting a hundred men at once. It was her husband, Changqing, with whom she had shared a bed for three years.
His eyes, which had always gazed at her tenderly, were now full of hatred and ice.
Across the long street, Shen Huaiyuan watched Changqing draw his bow and take aim at her.
But faster than his arrow was the dagger in her hand. Princess Zhaohua, Shen Huaiyuan, gave her life for her country.
**
When she opened her eyes again, Shen Huaiyuan found herself back at the flower-viewing banquet in the eighth year of the Shenzhi reign.
She glanced coolly at Changqing, then smiled mockingly. "My palace needs someone to attend to me. Would this young gentleman be willing to become my male favorite?"
As everyone burst into laughter, Changqing's face turned livid as he accepted the order.
But in a corner hidden from everyone, he stared at Shen Huaiyuan with lovesick, near-mad eyes.
Reader's guide:
1. Angsty groveling romance, both leads are reborn. The plot and romance each make up half the story.
2. Both leads are each other's only partner in both lives.
Theme: After hardship comes happiness, so keep walking toward the sun and wait for the flowers to bloom.
