[Dual Male Leads | The Long-Suffering Emperor × The Cool, Detached Imperial Tutor]
As the fifth son of the late emperor, Xiao Jingheng spent fourteen years pretending to be a fool to stay out of the empress dowager’s way. Then, in a single stroke, he seized the throne and became a young emperor who stood above all others. Shen Ji had been charged by the late emperor to teach and protect him. To Shen Ji, Xiao Jingheng was only a student, a sovereign, and the kingdom he was bound to safeguard.
But the feelings Xiao Jingheng had hidden for more than a decade could no longer stay buried.
As the court pressed the emperor to appoint an empress, Shen Ji sought to protect his reputation by personally submitting a petition to select one. In doing so, he pushed himself into an inescapable ruin. They fell out and waged a cold war for months. Only when they were about to part on a rainy night did Shen Ji finally understand: what he could not bear to lose was never just the trust the late emperor had placed in him.
Later, they stood side by side to reform the court and bring peace to the land. Before the court, they were a sovereign and his minister for the ages; beneath the eternal lamps, they remained together for the rest of their lives.
**
Xiao Jingheng’s love had deepened over more than a decade. He was forthright and took the initiative, but never pressured Shen Ji. Shen Ji, meanwhile, slowly wavered, retreated, and suffered under the rules governing their roles as teacher and student, sovereign and subject, before finally admitting his feelings.
This is not a passionate, outspoken kind of love, but a gentler one.
(There’s not much political intrigue either, since the author doesn’t know how to write it.)
