Chapter 1
The moment I saw my elder sister on her knees again, rage surged through me so violently that my chest ached.
Without a word, I slapped her to the floor.
“What is so wonderful about the Third Prince?
“You are so besotted with him that you have cast aside your honor and even your parents?
“Shen Changning, look at yourself.
“Do you still resemble a well-bred young lady of a noble house in the slightest?”
In my previous life, my elder sister had been the foremost beauty in the capital.
Not only was her beauty unsurpassed, she was accomplished in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
More enviable still was her illustrious birth.
The Shen family held a hereditary dukedom.
Father commanded an army, while Mother’s family was the wealthiest in Jiangnan.
A daughter of the Shen family enjoyed status and distinction scarcely inferior to that of a princess.
And as the eldest legitimate daughter of her generation, Shen Changning was peerless in grace and splendor.
Yet she had fallen for the impoverished and disgraced Third Prince.
Disregarding propriety and shame, she insisted that our parents marry her to him.
She even threatened suicide, forcing Father to stake the family’s fate on the Third Prince and help him seize the throne.
But the Third Prince, Lu Heng, was no good man.
After he became emperor, he quickly turned on us.
He accused the entire Shen clan of treason and sentenced us all to death.
Every man of the family was executed by death of a thousand cuts;
the women were flayed alive, their skin made into painted beauty fans.
The reek of blood hung over the capital and seemed to stain half the city red.
The agony and despair of that day had howled through my bones ever since.
Perhaps Heaven took pity on the terrible injustice done to the Shen family and granted me another chance.
When I opened my eyes, I was back on the day my elder sister begged to be married.
I resolved that this time, no matter what it took, I would stop her.
I had expected a struggle.
To my surprise, my elder sister rose calmly and said,
“You are right, little sister. The Third Prince is no suitable match for me.”
I stared at her in disbelief.
In our previous life, she had been willing to give up even her life for that man.
How could a few words from me have changed her mind?
The next instant, her eyes reddened. Lowering her head, she whispered,
“I wasted an entire lifetime. It was only as I lay dying that I learned who truly loved me.
“Perhaps Heaven allowed me to live again so that Lu Zhao and I would not miss our chance a second time.”
Lu Zhao.
The Crown Prince.
My husband in my previous life.
What did he have to do with Shen Changning?
Meeting my wary, uncertain gaze, Shen Changning took my arm and murmured,
“Chang’an, do you believe that people can be reborn?”
Of course I did.
But as I looked at my elder sister now, I could not decide whether to reveal that I, too, had been reborn.
So I pressed my lips together and listened in silence.
Her eyes red, Shen Changning drew me into a secluded corner and told me her story.
“In my previous life, I was blind to his true nature and insisted on marrying Lu Heng.
“But after he became emperor, he cast me into the Cold Palace.
“He made his childhood sweetheart—his cousin—the empress.
“Everything I did merely paved the way for the two of them.
“An’an, I cannot accept it.”
Shen Changning went on at length about how Du Yuerong, Lu Heng’s cousin, had smiled to her face while scheming behind her back.
She had even caused my sister to miscarry and lose her unborn child.
I found the story tedious.
Compared with the three hundred and seventy-two lives of the Shen family, the petty jealousy between her and Du Yuerong was utterly insignificant.
Losing patience, I asked bluntly,
“What does any of that have to do with the Crown Prince?
“Why have you suddenly decided to marry him instead?”
In our previous life, I had married Crown Prince Lu Zhao several years after Shen Changning married the Third Prince.
There had been little affection between us. We merely maintained the appearance of a courteous marriage.
Because the Shen family had placed all its bets on the Third Prince, Lu Heng, Lu Zhao soon lost power.
After Lu Heng ascended the throne, Lu Zhao was stripped to commoner status and placed under confinement.
Not long afterward, the entire Shen clan was executed.
While I was alive, I never once heard Lu Zhao mention Shen Changning.
By the time I died, Lu Zhao was imprisoned and Shen Changning was trapped in the Cold Palace.
How could two people in such circumstances have become entangled?
What had happened after my death?
Shen Changning’s gaze shifted evasively.
She seemed ashamed to admit that the Shen family had been annihilated because of her.
She brushed past it in two hasty sentences, then continued,
“I thought there was no hope left for me in this life.
“But then Lu Zhao raised an army in rebellion.
“It turned out that he had been lying low all along, concealing his strength and waiting for the right moment.
“When he took up arms, he issued a proclamation enumerating Lu Heng’s crimes.
“One of them was the unforgivable crime of stealing another man’s wife.”
At this, Shen Changning’s eyes lit up.
Tears of emotion brimmed in her beautiful eyes like fallen stars.
“Only then did I realize that Lu Zhao had always loved me.
“He was forced to give me up in anguish only because Lu Heng stole me away.
“When he learned how miserable my life had become, he was consumed with regret.
“That was why he rebelled—to take me away.”
Shen Changning seemed almost giddy, a rosy flush spreading across her cheeks.
But as she spoke, her spirits sank again.
“Unfortunately, I did not live long enough to see him come for me.
“When Lu Heng saw the proclamation, he forced a cup of poison down my throat.”
Twisting her handkerchief and biting her red lower lip, Shen Changning declared with determination,
“In my previous life, I let a good man slip away.
“In this life, I will not fail him.
“I will be with Lu Zhao and help him ascend the throne.
“Lu Heng and Du Yuerong will regret everything!”
Overcome by emotion, Shen Changning shed two more pearly tears.
I merely watched her coldly.
Fool, I cursed inwardly.