mainly focused on how Wei Zhao escaped from being abducted and how he regained his power and eventually revenged.

So what happened was... Wei Zhao is the 4th prince of the Great Yan and when he led the war against Fuyu, he was betrayed and he was captured by Fuyu’s king who wanted to humiliate him so he r*ped Wei Zhao. Unexpectedly, Wei Zhao became pregnant and the King made him keep the baby to humiliate him further.

In the original life, Yi Yin wasn’t closed with Wei Zhao because Wei Zhao is really cold to him and eventually, when a general from Great Yan was able to save Wei Zhao, Wei Zhao just asked him to take care of Yi Yin and he committed su*cide.

In the reborn life, Yi Yin got into a fight with one of his brothers, he almost died when he was left alone on the snow, wounded. It was Wei Zhao that found him and perhaps Wei Zhao pitied him so he took care of him that time. Also because Wei Zhao thought at that time, “He is the king’s son but he is also my son”

Since then, Yi Yin tried to be closer to Wei Zhao because nobody has cared for him like Wei Zhao. Yi Yin and Wei Zhao soon become close, Wei Zhao also risks his life to protect Yi Yin

Eventually, after a few setbacks, they got the opportunity to escape (these were thrilling chapters!!)

It was very hard because Wei Zhao was always tortured by the king so his body is unwell plus he had a miscarriage during their escape so it was very hard on him. I think it was only because he wanted to keep Yi Yin safe that he persevered unlike in the original life where he just gave up.

Then, they were able to come back to the Great Yan and Yi Yin was renamed Wei Chongrong. Of course, the way to proving himself again and making revenge wasn’t smooth but what I like about Wei Zhao is that he’s a very smart guy and he cares for Yi Yin so much.

To the point that when he got pregnant again (this time a baby with his true partner) he was willing to let go of this baby if Wei Chongrong doesn’t want to have a sibling which of course Rongrong contradicted

how he and Hou Dingyan got together because when he learned that he was pregnant, I think it was just a one night stand and I just want to make sure that he did it willingly you know. I fell in love with Wei Zhao so much and I hope his next love will be lovely you know

plus there’s very few Wei Zhao and Wei Chongrong interactions already. And Wei Chongrong and Jun Hua have already confessed to each other

turns out that Wei Zhao becomes king! (I think this has something to do with the issue in Wei Ming’s family. Wei Ming ascended the throne and he is very close brother of Wei Zhao. He is a really good guy, he loves Wei Zhao and Wei Chongrong sincerely unfortunately, he has a crooked son.

He has 3 sons. The conspiracy that happens is the second son kills the first son (who is the crown prince) and frames the third son for it. I have a feeling that either Wei Ming just abdicated the throne or his family perished because of the second son.

Anyhooo, Wei Zhao ascended the throne and he becomes emperor for 10 years. Afterwards, he abdicated and spends the rest of his time with Hou Dingyan (?)

Wei Chongrong becomes the emperor next. He and Jun Hua have a couple of kids but chapter 82 features mainly the eldest son who has a twin brother.

This eldest son was raised by Wei Zhao in his palace because he wanted to educate him himself - probably because he doesn’t want what happened to Wei Ming’s family to happen again especially since this Wei Chongrong have twin eldest sons.

the emperor had an affar with his 15 year old nephew in law. Like the man just couldn't control himself when his teenage nephew tried to climb his bed just because he looked like his 'unrequited love'.

It was heartbreaking to read about Wei Chongrong’s past life. He was a love starved child who was bullied, discriminated, isolated, and etc. All due to his origins. It was no wonder that he gave all of his affection to the wrong person all due to the simple act of kindness he showed him.

But unlike the other gongs I’ve seen the MC wasn’t an inherently cruel person by nature. If a person treat him well he would return that favor. Same with when a person treated him badly. He doesn’t aggressively attack anyone unless without any given reason otherwise he will generally leave them alone.

Although he wasn’t kind to ML in his past life he wasn’t bad to him either and even saved his life on one occasion. Merely he ignored his warnings regarding Wei Yang that led to his eventual death later on.

So when he reincarnated it was understandable that despite having lived another life he was rather quite childish. I have suspicions to believe that due to a combination of neglect and ab*se MC wasn’t able to mentally develop. So in his second life under the care of his Daddy he was able to fully mature into a young man fit for his age.

Wei Zhao was really just the perfect daddy and oh god I resent the MC’s other Bio Dad for breaking him to the point of su*cide in the MC’s past life. Later they got their revenge of course.

MC’s other bio dad was the only actual real villain in the story. There were other villains who appeared later in the story but weren’t exactly full villains.

A lot of the villains including the one that killed MC in his past life had their reasons for becoming who they were and it was understandable that that was how simply things were in such a society.

The only one I couldn’t really understand was Wei Lan but then again when you were royalty and power was involved I guess blood doesn’t really matter much as proven by history of backstabbing siblings of royal monarchs and emperors.

Wei Yang was paranoid and had fundamental trust issues which was understandable seeing as the chaotic environment he grew up in.

MC’s other bio dad and the Yan Emperor were the only two people whom I couldn’t find myself to forgive no matter what.

MC’s other bio dad for obvious reasons. Like seriously the guy was scum. I get it hostages who’ve lost their use weren’t generally treated well and were tortured to death for the most part. But seriously the guy went way too far. I almost lost my sh*t when he actually attempted to Lingchi cut his own son alive into thousands of pieces.

The Yan Emperor his reaction and treatment toward the MC was understandable for the most part. After all the MC was the living proof of his son’s r*pe. Even then he didn’t deem to treat him cruelly and was simply indifferent toward him. Although he did try to separate him from Wei Zhao, he had no intentions of harming him whatsoever from the very start and gave up in the end and let the two be together.

The thing I couldn’t forgive was that he actually groomed his nephew and slept him even though he was only 15 years old to fulfill some sick pe*verted delusions of his idealistic version of his past white moonlight! The man claimed that his nephew threw himself onto him first but dude that does not give you the excuse to f*cking sleep with him! He’s your nephew for crying out loud!

After Wei Zhao’s background was revealed I couldn’t help but hate the f*cking disgusting old pe*vert even more!

But anyhow I was mainly here for the fluff between Wei Zhao and the MC. Really the father son pair were just too adorable!

A lot of couples are in*esty as I said it's common among royalty of the past. Even the main couple (the son-MC) ends up with someone that turned out to be his cousin. They grew up as childhood friends tho, and due to complications never knew they were related.

but it was only a minor part of the story as his process of escaping is emphasized more. The enemy country king is so like a typical s*um gong and YES! I admit I mildly ship him and MC-Dad but at the same time, I also hate him and am so glad they didn't end up together and Dad was able to get away from him. It's a shame with his original lover tho. The part where they cannot be together anymore because of everything that happened... That hurt a lot. T_T

I’ll fill this in later but to say, other than joy, this book left me feeling so melancholic about family, family relationships and friends. Despite all of them loving each other, like life just happened and some people moved away, some people lost contact and reconnected after years, and the world was just so big - I just wished for them to all live in one big city joyfully, especially after seeing how small variations between the 1st and 2nd timelines yielded such different relationship matrices. It’s not guaranteed to have friends and family so close and thriving, so much is just luck. Anyway the title is worth the name. It was truly a rebirth of glory and splendor and our leads lived glorious joyful lives - this is what I want in a rebirth novel.

for those who’ve read the novel and are reminiscing in the reviews:

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Emperor: Wei Su

Empress: Ji Wan

First Princess: Princess Yuankang

First Princess's Consort: Hou Yichun Xie Bai

Children: Xie Xiu, Xie Qiu, Xie Xiang

Third Princess: Princess Suining (deceased)

Fifth Princess: Princess Gaochang (married to Wusun)

Crown Prince: Wei Ming

Crown Prince's Lord Consort: Jun Feili

Children: Wei Xuan, Wei Kou, Wei Lan, Wei Mao

Fourth Prince: Wang Qin Wei Zhao

Son: Wei Chongrong

Consort Xin: Shangguan Ling (deceased)

Children: Seventh Princess: Princess Wanchun, Second Prince: Wang Zheng Wei Xu (deceased)

Wangfei Zheng: Shangguan Chanjuan

Lord Servant Ling: Gui Zhi (out of favour for many years)

Son: Third Prince: Wang Lu Wei Xiao

Wang Lu's Lord Consort: Sun Ye

Son: Wei Ruo

Concubine Yun: Li-shi (deceased)

Son: Fifth Prince: Wei Shi (doesn't have the wang title yet)

Zhao Ji

Sixth Prince: Wei Yang (not yet born)

Wei Zhao actually has another love interest later in the story and give birth to a daughter with him (i guess the readers already got a hunch on who it is😉), sadly they didn't appear much and just got a few scenes with minimal dialogue, but in the end after he retire he lives a relax life and travel along the country with his hubby <3

Unsurprisingly the whole royal family are full of semi in*est cousin couples. The previous emperor Wei Su likes Jun Lin and he gives birth to twins Wei Zhao and Jun Qing, which basically made WCR and Jun Hua direct cousin... Jun Lin is Empress Ji nephew which makes Wei Su laid w/ his own nephew in law... Jun Lin half brother Jun Feili marry Wei Ming, Wei Su's son from Empress Ji, which makes Feili the emperor son-in-law, brother-in-law, nephew-in-law, and his husband cousin... Princess Yuankang's husband is her direct cousin too, the son of Wei Su's elder sister, and she match her daughter also with the daughter direct cousin, Wei Ming's son.

Okay so after reading the chapter abt Wei Su's past it's not really in*est with Wei Ming and Feili, cuz he's not related to Ji Yang at all (JL mother, JW sister). But the Wei Su and Jun Lin relationship give me the creep, I'm not sure cuz I mtl, but I think Wei Su groom him? They were eight teen years apart and their relationship start when JL is around 15-16 I think. I think originally the one Wei Su want is Jun Lin's uncle Ji Qing but when his advances are ignored he then pour his attention to Jun Lin, the relationship between the Ji siblings and Wei Su are very close and familiar too, which makes it more disturbing what Wei Su doing with their son and nephew. Then Jun Lin then gives birth to Wei Zhao and Jun Qing at the age 21.

And maybe Jun Hua, he's very cute but I'm a little disappointed he's portrayed like typical 2d character, he's like an anime school girl who's the love interest of the protagonist, coquettish and spoiled, I feel it's no different if he was a girl, I also don't remember him doing anything significant besides sticking to Wei Chong Rong, his existence remind me of the females in Naruto, in which their roles are just to be the wifes and decoration to the male characters and nothing more. Compare to him, Jun Lin, Jun Qing, and even Huaixi are more interesting to read.

From the growing affection between him and WC, to their escape, the issues that arise after their return home, and finally to achieving his revenge. It was a satisfying revenge story.