After I Faked My Death, His Majesty Was Left with Regrets

[Next Book: The Regent's Crematorium After Faking My Death] Please add it to your reading list!

After a sudden fall from grace, Huo Zeyan went from heir to the Marquis's household to a prisoner. The only person who stayed by his side was the mute concubine he had never thought much of.

Watching Xianshuang burst into tears over a tiny injury, seeing her frantically gesture while looking for a doctor until she was covered in sweat, and watching her blush and avert her gaze as she applied medicine to his wounds, Huo Zeyan felt nothing but disgust and amusement.

What a deluded fool, he thought.

Even if he had fallen from grace, there was no way he could ever love a lowly mute slave.

-

After Huo Zeyan seized the throne and became emperor, everyone said Xianshuang had finally come through all her hardships. Even Xianshuang herself thought so.

Until one day, aboard a pleasure boat, she went to find Huo Zeyan with a pair of love locks she had carved, only to hear him speak of her to someone else:

"How could a lowly mute slave ever be fit to be an imperial consort? A meritorious servant? She's nothing but a burden I can't get rid of."

Hearing the coldness in his voice, she felt as if she had fallen into an icy abyss.

So all the perseverance she had shown meant nothing to him but a complete joke.

At the end of that day, the love locks hit the ground, splitting with a glaring crack.

And as he watched with eyes that seemed on the verge of breaking, she leaped into the cold, rushing river.

-

Much later, Huo Zeyan finally found the woman who had tried to escape him by dying.

She held the hand of a little girl as lovely as a painted doll, while a gentle, refined man stood at her side. She was smiling warmly.

But when she saw Huo Zeyan, her smile vanished, leaving only wariness and fear.

"Weren't you already dead?" He stepped closer, gripping her wrist as she tried to pull away, the corners of his eyes reddening. "I never gave you permission to die. How dare you?"

[Reading Guide]

1. Both leads are virgins, one-on-one romance, happy ending

2. Beautiful mute slave girl vs. proud emperor

3. The heroine's speech impediment will be cured

4. Packed with old-school melodramatic tropes; the setup serves the plot

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[Next Book: The Same Crematorium Trope, The Regent's Crematorium After Faking My Death]

During the years Shang Xu was imprisoned in the Regent's Manor by Pei Zhiwei, she would sometimes think back to the past.

Back then, she was a famous courtesan in the capital.

And he was still the spirited young noble who had caused a sensation throughout the city when he tried to marry her.

But later, the Pei family fell from power, and she had no choice but to give herself to another man.

She never imagined that on the day of her wedding, Pei Zhiwei would lead troops into the imperial city and take her by force before everyone's eyes.

-

Shang Xu knew Pei Zhiwei had stopped loving her long ago.

He kept her imprisoned in the Regent's Manor and humiliated her day and night, yet refused to give her a title.

He even forced her to give away the zither he had once gifted her.

On New Year's Eve, as the ministers gathered for a banquet, he ordered her to play the zither and pour wine for their entertainment.

When a minister took a liking to her and asked for her, she heard the contempt in Pei Zhiwei's voice:

"How could a lowborn, heartless performer catch your eye?"

His words chilled her. Her hand trembled as she poured, spilling wine from the cup and soaking the minister's clothes. He took the chance to pull her into his arms.

Startled, she turned around and saw Pei Zhiwei's face darken. He yanked her out of the man's embrace:

"You really live up to your brothel upbringing. You sure know how to seduce men."

"You want to leave with someone else?"

That night, he bit her shoulder in fury and whispered his sentence into her ear.

"Shang Xu, even if you die, you can only die in my arms."

That winter seemed endless. She knocked over the brazier in her room and burned the zither she would never play again, reducing everything to ashes.

-

Pei Zhiwei had always thought he hated Shang Xu.

That woman was greedy for wealth and status, fickle, and far too good at pretending. She deserved to die.

He thought they would torment each other for the rest of their lives.

Until one Lantern Festival night, word came that her room had caught fire.

Eyes bloodshot, he charged into the flames without a thought for himself,

only to find a charred zither and a corpse too badly burned to recognize. He coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Fireworks fell from the sky, just like the night they first met, but the body in his arms had long since gone cold.

Only then, in the depths of his anguish, did he finally regret everything.

He had never hated her. The only person he had ever hated was himself.

·Gentle, steadfast white moonlight vs. dark, deranged regent

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[Coming Soon: So I Got a Happy Ending with My Archrival]

[Also Known As: After Losing My Memory, I Kissed My Archrival]

As the youngest daughter of the Chancellor's household, Tang Songyi had been pampered by her family since childhood. Her life had always gone smoothly, except for one person who constantly made things difficult for her:

Ji Hechuan, heir to the Marquis's household.

He couldn't stand her spoiled, wilful ways, and she couldn't stand his arrogance and conceit.

They had bickered every time they met since childhood, making them the most irreconcilable of rivals.

Then one day, Tang Songyi lost her memory and forgot all about their feud. Looking curiously at the handsome young man staring at her, she asked:

"Who are you?"

The young man crossed his arms and studied her for a long time, his expression complicated.

"You said just last night that you'd marry no one but me, and now you're pretending not to know me?"

Tang Songyi certainly didn't want to be such a heartless person, so she rose onto her toes and gave him a light kiss. "I'm sorry."

She blinked at him as the young man's ears suddenly turned red. He turned his face away, looking utterly flustered.

-

At first, Ji Hechuan thought Tang Songyi was pretending to be stupid just to annoy him.

Later, he decided to take advantage of this rare opportunity to tease her.

Then, after hearing her call him "Brother Hechuan" over and over, and hearing her tell her elders she would marry no one but him,

he thought that since she liked him so much, perhaps marrying her wouldn't be so bad.

But on their wedding night, Tang Songyi regained her memory.

She glared at him through gritted teeth, furious:

"I. Want. A. Divorce!"

·Proud young heiress vs. sharp-tongued heir

Theme: Treasure the people you have now