The Mad Prince's Gilded Cage Was Made for Me

Can a fallen eagle become a canary? Someone is locked away in a courtyard full of osmanthus trees, but no one knows who. * Blurb One: Every scion of a great family knows that the young General Xie of the Jialiang Marquis's household and the Fifth Prince are close friends. They met when they were young and have been confidants ever since. Of course, Xie Ci thinks so too. The Fifth Prince never puts on princely airs around him. Whatever Xie Ci wants to do, even if it's stealing chickens or dogs, all he has to do is coax the prince a little. The refined and upright prince will grumble about it, then go along with him anyway. “Aci, no one matters more to me than you.” Xie Ci has heard those words many times. First they gave him goosebumps, then he grew used to them, and finally he believed them. He thought he really was important to that person. Important enough that the prince could lower his status and dignity in front of him, again and again. When someone treats me with sincerity, I repay them with sincerity. I never imagined that, in the end, I would be the only one who meant it. * Blurb Two (in Volume Three): A cage built in the name of love cannot hold a goose that soars high, but it can imprison an eagle meant to spread its wings and fly. I insist on clipping your wings and pulling out your talons, locking you inside the golden cage I've spent half my life weaving. I'll keep you by my side for all eternity, so that day and night, you look at no one but me. I played the part for so long that you stopped noticing the sincerity overflowing from my heart. But... it doesn't matter. You can't escape now, anyway. I insist that you love without hope and suffer until you wish you were dead.