[Ensemble cast] | [Multiple couples] | [Younger love interest] | [Political intrigue] | [Serious tone]
Multiple storylines | Alternate world | Political maneuvering | Rising to power | Satisfying comeback | Heart-wrenching romance
◇ What the world sees:
He plays people like a game, deftly navigating every situation;
He rules with an iron fist, cruel and unpredictable.
◇ What the historians never wrote:
He schemed for the sake of all, yet never once sought a way to save himself;
Alone at night, he sighs, forever carrying an old wound in his heart.
A strategist:
He plots to establish himself, plots to control others and command the tide;
He plots with armies as his blade, and with nations as his game board.
The world is the board, and its people are the pieces;
A master player plans for the board, while a poor one plans only for the pieces;
Those who plan for the board are destined for greatness!
◇ [That autumn, amid desolate winds, one look was all it took for him to choose the other.]
Ruan Yuzhi slowly bent his knees, folded his hands, and rested his forehead against them. With the most solemn bow, he knelt before the disheveled young prince.
“Your servant, Ruan Yuzhi, vows from this day forward to devote himself to Your Highness until his dying breath.”
◇ [He made his own spine a bridge, carrying you to the throne of the world!]
Kneeling on the blue stone tiles, Ruan Yuzhi bowed his head, his dark hair falling loose as he prostrated himself before the young man.
“Yuzhi is willing to be the blade in Your Majesty's hand and the steed at your side. Through wind, frost, rain, and snow, I will shield you. Through mountains of blades and seas of fire, I will walk for you!”
◇ [The most dangerous move was the sincerity with which I willingly entered the game.]
Ruan Yuzhi stumbled forward, coughing up blood with every step. Every third step, he staggered. He knelt at the feet of the young emperor he himself had placed on the throne and bowed deeply.
“With strategy for my brush and blood and tears for ink, I painted this vast realm. I congratulate Your Majesty on ascending the throne, and wish our sovereign an enduring golden age!”
◇ [In this contest with the world at stake, the board was already covered in wounds.]
He was everything the other had ever sought, and his only weakness.
If that was so...
Let this cup be for the traitorous minister. The next one... I'll drink it myself!
