Father Has Been Pretending in Both His Lives

[If a son is unlike his father, his father despises him; if a son resembles his father, his father suspects him.] Father and Son & Rebirth & Redemption & Doted On by All

In his previous life, Xiao Lin, the Jianxi Emperor, was a cold-blooded tyrant known throughout the realm, a man who had never shown anyone mercy. Crown Prince Xiao Huaijin was the child his first wife had died bringing into the world. He should have been cherished, yet villains framed him for treason, and he was deposed and imprisoned. Until his dying day, his imperial father never once spared him a proper glance.

On the night of the palace coup, the second prince, Xiao Yu, raised troops to seize the throne. Dragging his ailing body out of the Eastern Palace, the crown prince gave his own life to shield Xiao Lin from a fatal blade. Before he died, he said, "Father, look... I've been good." Only then did Xiao Lin realize that the one person he had wronged in this life was the very person he had destroyed with his own hands.

Reborn, Xiao Lin returns to a time when the crown prince does not even reach his knee. The little tot hovers timidly outside the palace hall, wanting to approach but not daring to. As always, Xiao Lin keeps his expression cold, saying nothing and offering no explanations. Yet any brick that trips the crown prince vanishes the next day. Any brother who bullies him suffers terrible misfortune within three days. Whenever the crown prince stays up late reading, there is always a cup of warm tea on his desk, never too hot to hold. Every official at court believes His Majesty remains as indifferent to the crown prince as ever. None of them knows that late each night, that stonehearted emperor sits alone beside the crown prince's bed, repeating over and over-

"...Father is here."