The Princess Doesn't Want to Be a Caged Bird

[Both Reborn]

In her previous life, Wen Yuan was the only legitimate princess of Nanxia. Her father and mother doted on her, her Crown Prince brother adored her, and her uncle, the powerful chancellor, treasured her above all.

Her only misfortune was that the gentleman she loved already had someone in his heart.

Then a coup came without warning. Her half-brother murdered their father and brother, and the uncle who cherished her was tortured to death.

Overnight, she went from a revered princess to a prisoner.

The new emperor bestowed her upon Li Rui, a rising court favorite, as a concubine.

Wen Yuan had heard of Li Rui while still at home. The illegitimate son of Duke Li, he had a cold face and a ruthless, vicious nature. His heart was harder than the King of Hell's, and he was the sharpest blade in the new emperor's hand.

Li Rui took no other wife or concubine. He had a room made for her, identical to the princess's chambers, and sent her endless gold and silver jewelry, fine silks and brocades.

Everyone said she was lucky, that even the King of Hell favored her.

Only she knew that Li Rui forced her to pleasure him night after night, and made her wear an anklet for others' amusement.

Unable to escape, she secretly read poems by the man she loved to endure the miserable days.

But Li Rui found out. With a cold expression, he burned every book of poems.

In the end, Wen Yuan leaped into the lotus pond in the rear courtyard and drowned.

When she opened her eyes, Wen Yuan had been reborn at fifteen. Her father and mother were alive, her gentle Crown Prince brother put a pearl hairpin in her hair, and her uncle gave her his most precious luminous pearl as a coming-of-age gift.

At that time, she and Li Rui had yet to meet.

They first met at the Hundred Flowers Banquet, where Li Rui was an illegitimate son who received no favor.

The eldest son of the Li family brought a group of young dandies to humiliate and beat Li Rui. She kindly intervened and rescued him, filthy and battered.

At another Hundred Flowers Banquet, Wen Yuan did not intervene. She only watched from behind a tree.

Li Rui's eyes were savage as he pinned the dandies who had humiliated him to the ground and beat them viciously.

Suddenly, Li Rui, his face covered in blood, looked up at Wen Yuan behind the tree.

His vicious gaze made her knees go weak.

Wen Yuan remembered what Li Rui had whispered in her ear in bed, words too shameful to bear: "Tuoba Yu, you like that libertine so much? Too bad his family is about to be seized, and you'll be beneath me."

Wen Yuan secretly swore that this time, she would not let her loved ones suffer the same fate.

But... why had Li Rui joined her uncle's faction, and become the sharpest blade in her Crown Prince brother's hand?

Theme: Cherish life and live it well.