The Heiress Who Refused the Crown Prince

Chapter 1 The Night I Refused

I returned once more to that night in front of the Crown Prince, when I loosened the bindings across my chest.

He waved at me, just as he had in the previous life.

"Bingzhi, help me choose which lady is fit to become my Crown Princess."

In the last life, I had been consumed by jealousy. I confessed my true identity as a woman and married into the Eastern Palace as I wished.

What followed was ten years of cold indifference. My own children called another woman mother.

This life, I would not marry him.

So I pointed to Zhang Ruhua, the one he would later favor most.

"Your Highness, let it be her."

Zhao Yan froze.

He looked like he had not expected me to name Zhang Ruhua.

He frowned. "That girl is far too proper and rigid."

"I do not like her."

It did not matter.

He would like her later.

In the previous life, on the day I died in Fengyi Palace, he told me, "If there is a next life, I would rather not have known you were a woman that day."

"Then the one I married would have been Ruhua."

I came back to myself and spoke, trying to persuade him.

"Prime Minister Zhang leads the civil officials. If you marry Zhang Ruhua, your position as Crown Prince will be secure."

Zhao Yan lifted his gaze and stared into my eyes.

After a long moment, he said, "I understand."

It looked like he had taken it in.

In the last life, after weighing many things, he had also planned to marry Zhang Ruhua.

Tonight was only a test of my attitude.

I had been his study companion for five years, eating and living alongside him. I was a woman, with fair skin and delicate features, yet I often gave him advice.

Over time, I had fallen in love with him.

Even he had begun to look at me differently.

Yet in his eyes, I was still a man.

So those feelings stayed buried.

As I turned to leave, Zhao Yan sighed.

"Bingzhi, if only you had a twin sister."

"If she looked and behaved like you, I would marry her no matter the obstacles."

Under the moonlight, I looked back.

I saw his eyes.

They were clouded and tinged with regret.

I smiled. "Unfortunately, there is none."

With my knowledge of him, after the imperial decree, he would cut all ties with me.

If anyone discovered he had fallen for a man, he would be finished.

A ruler who hesitates invites chaos.