When the Splendor Fades, Who Will Drink with Me in the Underworld?

[Historical + two male leads + power struggle + 1v1 + bittersweet + tragic romance + bad ending]

He is Shen Yanqing, the cool, refined prince renowned throughout the capital, flawless in manner and unmatched in strategy.

He is Xiao Zong, a prince of a different surname who rose from the mud, ambitious as a wolf and decisive in battle.

Ten years ago, Shen Yanqing rescued Xiao Zong, frozen in the snow, taught him poetry and the classics, and trained him in swordsmanship.

Ten years later, Xiao Zong led three hundred thousand cavalry to storm the imperial city and slaughter the royal bloodline, sparing only Shen Yanqing.

The once-princely Shen Yanqing, elegant as jade, became a powerful minister’s prisoner. His hand tendons were severed, and he was locked away in the inner palace, enduring heart-wrenching torment day after day.

Xiao Zong thought that by breaking his wings and crushing his pride, he could keep this man by his side forever.

He did not know that Shen Yanqing’s every act of submission was meant to protect his younger brother’s last chance to survive, and to set a deadly trap in which they would both perish.

“Xiao Zong, take this realm. Take my life too.”

The day the city fell, red plum blossoms drifted through the snow. Shen Yanqing leapt from the thousand-foot city tower, and his blood stained Xiao Zong’s imperial crown.

The newly enthroned emperor went white-haired overnight. He guarded a cold corpse, having won the realm and gone mad for the rest of his life.