Scheming for the Throne (Reborn)

[Dear readers, I've suddenly had a new idea, so I've rearranged my update schedule. I'll be updating The Lucky Youth of the Seventies first, and this story's update schedule will be pushed back. I hope you'll understand. If you're interested in stories set in that era, feel free to visit my profile and add it to your favorites. Love you all.]

The eldest daughter of the Su family, Su Miaoyi, was breathtakingly beautiful, with a clear, gentle grace like a spring lotus in full bloom. Though born of a concubine, she was raised by the principal wife and was destined to marry the Second Prince once she came of age.

Everyone said she was incredibly lucky, and even Su Miaoyi believed it.

Until a chaotic night of candles at a palace banquet, when she accidentally ingested a love potion. With her dark hair soaked and her jade-like face disheveled, she was sent to the bed of General Mu Ren by the woman she regarded as her own mother. Her fiancé even disregarded her reputation to frame the man.

Only then did she realize that the cage around her had no bars, and that she had long been nothing more than someone else's bait...

After dying with hatred in her heart, she learned she was not a Su daughter at all, and the Second Prince had framed Mu Ren for reasons other than trying to keep him in check.

When she opened her eyes again, she had returned to the moment she first ingested the love potion.

Before all the watching eyes, she looked at the Second Prince waiting eagerly and the principal wife feigning heartbroken concern. Su Miaoyi curled her lips in a mocking smile.

Her clear, autumnal eyes slowly settled on the dignified man seated on the high platform.

Having been given another life, she would make a different choice...

**

General Mu Ren had spent his life on the battlefield. His renown was unparalleled, and conquering cities was as easy for him as reaching into a bag.

He had met countless people, was ruthless and cold-blooded, and had never been interested in marriage.

Until an “accident” at a banquet led the emperor to arrange a marriage, and he wed the troublesome, pampered young lady of the Su family...

From then on, the stern and self-controlled General of the North came to know the trials of love, and found himself gladly surrendering to them.

Blurb for A Perfect Match

In her previous life, thanks to the marriage agreement made years earlier between the Shen and Song families, Song Yuruo married into Prince Duan's household and became the envy of all as the heir's wife.

After the wedding, knowing she had married above her station, she didn't dare take a single wrong step. She paid her respects morning and evening, managed the household, and strictly followed the rules expected of a principal wife.

She spent her life walking on thin ice, only to end up with her husband bringing home the woman he loved while Song Yuruo lay gravely ill from years of sorrow.

On a night of red candles, as the twilight faded, Song Yuruo stood in the cold wind and heard her husband tell the woman he loved, “You are the one who truly suits me.”

And in all her life, she had never managed to enter his heart.

Given another life, Song Yuruo finally understood that unrequited love and foolish fantasies were no beautiful dream, but a joke.

She... would not live as a joke again...

Shen You, heir to Prince Rui, was handsome and dazzling, with an unmatched air of nobility. To the high-born young women of the capital, he was an immortal from a jade palace. The only blemish on his reputation, they said, was that he had married a girl from the humble Song family.

People felt sorry for him, and even his mother secretly kept sending women to his rooms every few days.

One night, after dealing with the woman his mother had sent, he returned to his room and saw his wife trying to hold back tears while still doing her utmost to please him. He thought, “She's pretty, gentle, knows her place, and doesn't cling to me.”

Even though she came from a humble background, he could still spend the rest of his life with her...

Until one day, his ever-obedient wife set a divorce agreement before him and calmly said in a cold voice, “I am not a suitable match for you, my lord. Please grant my request.”

The usually serene and unearthly Prince Rui lost his composure for the first time in his life...

Premise: Different choices lead to different lives.