Raising a Substitute: The Regent Prince’s Long Road to Winning His Wife Back

[Dual male leads + substitute romance + happy ending + yandere + raising him]

After his elder brother dies in battle, Gu Wangjun finds a boy with similar features in the mud and takes him in, naming him Gu Wangshuo.

He lavishes affection on Gu Wangshuo, teaches him his brother’s spear techniques, gives him his brother’s armor, and shapes him into someone who resembles his brother. Night after night, he holds him as he sleeps, as if that could fill the emptiness in his heart. Before he realizes it, he has fallen in love with him.

Gu Wangshuo once thought this was salvation, until someone told him, “You’re nothing but a substitute.”

It turns out that from beginning to end, he has only ever been a stand-in for Gu Wangjun’s late elder brother.

Gu Wangjun notices something is wrong and, after learning the truth, desperately explains his true feelings.

Only then does he realize he has fallen hopelessly in love with Gu Wangshuo.

Though heartbroken, Gu Wangshuo knows that his brother’s kindness to him means more than anything. He cannot turn against him just because of a few provocative words from others.

While helping his brother uncover the truth, Gu Wangshuo instead discovers that he is a prince who was lost among the common folk.

In court, he draws a clear line between himself and the regent, Gu Wangjun. In secret, he joins forces with the regent to purge their political enemies.

When the border is finally under threat, Gu Wangshuo rushes to the front lines and is gravely wounded. The powerful man who rules the court then tells the world, eyes red, what they are to each other.