For a 2017 novel, it surprisingly didn't follow the typical revenge trope with the fierce FL doing all the face-slapping. Schemes were orchestrated by ML.

FL is described as mediocre and she truly embodied that adjective all throughout the novel. For a FL that had been betrayed and killed by her beloved, one (who has read a lot of ancient chinese novels) might expect her to come back wrecking revenge but sadly, in real life, a mediocre person couldn't become a genius overnight. But what really endears her to me is that she was self-aware that she could never be match to all these vicious people, and that no matter how many times she came alive, she would never have the heart to be as evil as them. Aww. Well, I can't blame her for her mediocrity. Witnessing how her sister died due to competing with another sister is more than enough for her to convince herself that instead of scheming for favor, being mediocre is much better than being dead. So she contented herself with whatever she has, until came someone (ML's brother) who promised to love her and grow old together with her. Her second sister warned her that it's all a sham, but as an unfavored and ignored princess all her life, her lifelong thirst for attention and love compelled her to ignore the caution.

Unknown to her, she was just being used as a scapegoat.

ML has long been in love with FL, but because FL's evil sister was also in love with him, he couldn't really make a move to save FL in advance, as doing so would lead the FL to a much earlier death. All he could do was wait until the execution and... well, that part was not really explained. One moment, the FL was kneeling waiting for the axe to chop off her head, the next she was inside a gravekeeper's house with her face and body on fire.

Then FL met ML. FL concluded herself that ML also wanted to use her to kill ML's brother, who by then became the new emperor. ML didn't refute, and even said he would really send her to his brother's side to kill him at his signal. He enticed her with his speech of revenge and a promise to give her dead family a proper burial instead of rotting in the mass grave. FL really did want to bury her family in a proper manner, but she was still undecided. Until, she discovered that her family members, whom she thought were executed with her, were alive and enjoying the new emperor's favor, and that they were also part of the conspiracy. Angry, she agreed to ML's revenge plan, but ML said he wanted her to be strong and smart first. So he took her to places she had never been before.

There's some kind of romeo-and-juliet drama towards the latter part of the story, but it was not surprising that it happened heh...

I love the writing style. Overall it's a very captivating and satisfying read. The first 10 chapters gave it straight that ML is not your swoony type of guy, so I wasn't expecting for one. Also I'm pretty sure the tsundere in the tags doesn't refer to the FL lol. Great read for someone like me who's tired of the generic ancient china novels being put out these couple of years. 4++