The Princess Royal (度华年)

When their long, loveless marriage ends in betrayal, Princess Li Rong (Zhao Jinmai) and her husband Pei Wenxuan (Zhang Linghe) — the Prime Minister of the Great Xia Dynasty — mysteriously wake up as their 18-year-old selves in the year they were first wed. Their first marriage was an alliance of political convenience, forged to give each the power they sought. Yet over three decades of hostility and intrigue, their relationship grew so poisoned by distrust that they orchestrated each other's premature deaths.

Now given a second chance at youth, both carry the memories — and wounds — of the life they once shared. Filled with regret and resentment, they vow to avoid one another and choose different paths. But fate is not easily defied. Drawn back together by the same ruthless palace intrigues that once destroyed them, the former enemies must decide: remain adversaries, or become allies in rewriting the ending of their shared story. Adapted from Mo Shubai's novel The Eldest Princess, this 40-episode drama blends sharp romantic comedy with high-stakes political scheming, as two souls learn whether a love that failed once can bloom anew.

The 40-episode series is built around a dual-rebirth premise (双重生), in which both leads return to their youth with full knowledge of their past lives. The narrative unfolds across three major arcs:

Arc 1: The End Before the Beginning — Death and Second Chance (Episodes 1–6)

Synopsis The story opens at the tragic conclusion of Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan's first lives. After decades of a marriage poisoned by suspicion and political manipulation, the Princess and the Prime Minister have grown to despise one another. When Li Rong is fatally poisoned — an assassination she believes her husband orchestrated — she orders her loyalists to kill him in retaliation. Thus, husband and wife die together, each blaming the other for their ruin. But death is not the end. Li Rong awakens as her 18-year-old self on the day she is about to be married, still bearing the memories of all 40 years she has lived. To her astonishment, Pei Wenxuan has also returned to his youth, carrying the same bitter recollections. Both are determined to undo their tragic destiny — starting with never marrying each other at all. Key Story Beats

• The series opens with the mutual assassination: Li Rong dies from poisoned wine, while Pei Wenxuan is stabbed to death on her orders.
• Both awaken as their teenage selves in the Great Xia imperial palace, fully aware of their past lives.
• Pei Wenxuan tries to break the engagement by spreading rumors that the Princess is not an ideal wife, while Li Rong attempts to make herself an undesirable match.
• When a corrupt noble named Yang Quan attempts to kidnap Li Rong and stage a "heroic rescue" to force a marriage, Pei Wenxuan intervenes — but ends up trapped alone with the Princess overnight. The scandal makes him the inevitable candidate for her husband.
• The Emperor orders Pei Wenxuan to eliminate the corrupt Yang family as the price for marrying Princess Li Rong. This arc establishes the series' central tension: two people who died hating each other are now reluctantly bound together once again, armed with the knowledge of everything that went wrong — and the resolve to do it differently.

Arc 2: Strange Bedfellows — The Reluctant Alliance (Episodes 7–20)

Synopsis Now officially married, Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan navigate a strange new reality: each knows the other's strengths, weaknesses, and deepest secrets. Their relationship is no longer the bitter enmity of their past lives, nor is it a romance. Instead, they settle into a practical partnership, bickering as they go. She calls him "Grand Chancellor Pei"; he insists she treat him like an older brother. She suggests they become "besties" instead — a running joke that captures the strangeness of their situation. But the political landscape of Great Xia is as treacherous as ever. The royal family is fractured: the Dowager Empress schemes from the shadows, rival noble houses maneuver for power, and the young Emperor faces threats both within and beyond the court. As Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan work together to expose corruption and dismantle the noble factions that destroyed them in their previous lives, they begin to see each other in a new light. The Pei Wenxuan whom Li Rong remembers as cold and scheming is now open, loyal, and vulnerable. The Li Rong whom Pei Wenxuan remembers as ruthless and controlling is now principled, brave, and surprisingly tender. Slowly — through shared danger, late-night strategy sessions, and the healing of old wounds — the line between allies and lovers begins to blur. Key Story Beats

• Li Rong establishes the Imperial Inspectorate (督察司) — a new government body designed to root out corruption, directly challenging the entrenched noble families.
• Pei Wenxuan fakes his own death to expose a conspiracy, forcing Li Rong to grieve him — and later, to confront her own feelings when he returns.
• The Dowager Empress and various noble factions attempt to assassinate the couple multiple times, each attack bringing them closer.
• The "Three Great Cases" (San Da An) — major corruption scandals involving powerful families — serve as the centerpiece of the political conflict.
• The arc ends with Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan openly acknowledging their partnership, even as they remain uncertain about their feelings. This arc transforms the series from a simple revenge story into a slow-burn romance. Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan must confront not only external enemies but also their own memories of a failed marriage, learning to trust again across the abyss of their shared past.

Arc 3: The Three Who Remember — The Final Confrontation (Episodes 21–40)

Synopsis Just as Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan begin to believe they can change the future, a shocking revelation upends everything: they are not the only ones who have returned from the past. Su Rongqing — the gentle, scholarly minister whom Li Rong once considered her closest confidant in her first life — is also a reincarnated soul, and he too remembers everything. His presence complicates everything. In the first timeline, Su Rongqing harbored deep feelings for Li Rong but never acted on them, and his loyalty to her ultimately contributed to her downfall. Now, with a second chance, he is determined not to repeat the same mistakes. As the three individuals who remember their first lives struggle to navigate their second, old loyalties and new loves collide. Su Rongqing must decide whether to support Li Rong's partnership with Pei Wenxuan or pursue his own path. Meanwhile, Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan must confront the question that has haunted them since their rebirth: does their love belong to the past — or to this new present they are building together? The final arc accelerates toward a climactic confrontation with the forces that destroyed them before. The identity of the poisoner who killed Li Rong — the mystery that set their tragedy in motion — is finally revealed. And in the aftermath, Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan must decide whether to return to the roles they once held or forge an entirely new future together. Key Story Beats

• Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan discover Su Rongqing is also a reincarnator, creating a "triangular rebirth" dynamic that rewrites the series' core assumptions.
• The identity of the poisoner who murdered Li Rong in her first life is finally exposed — a twist that forces both leads to re-evaluate everything they believed about their past.
• Su Rongqing's unrequited feelings for Li Rong force Pei Wenxuan to confront his own jealousy — and to admit that he truly loves his wife.
• The series culminates in a final confrontation with the true enemy, as the three reincarnators unite against a shared adversary.
• After the resolution of the political crisis, Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan choose each other freely, not out of political necessity, but out of love — rewriting the ending that their first lives denied them. This arc delivers the series' emotional payoff, transforming a narrative of revenge into one of redemption and second-chance love. The discovery of a third reincarnator subverts expectations, while the final resolution affirms that the couple's genuine happiness has always been the prize worth fighting for.