[Unhinged Fallen Official x Censor] [Scheming] [Forced Love] [Taking by Force] [Pretending to Be Obedient, Only to Have His Heart Stolen] [Both Pure] [Happy Ending]
The day Xiao Yingchuan, the all-powerful Prince Regent, was thrown into prison, the emperor wanted to send someone to seize the official silver and treasures Xiao had hidden on an island in the Western Ocean.
Who in the court didn't know that Xiao Yingchuan was ruthless and eccentric, highly skilled in martial arts, and fond of poison? Even with shackles on his wrists, killing someone would be child's play for him. Anyone who got close risked being killed. Not a single official dared take on this nearly suicidal assignment.
In the end, Xie Yunzhao was forced to accept the deadly mission.
He escorted the condemned official Xiao Yingchuan aboard a ship bound for the Western Ocean to seize the mountains of treasure. He'd thought that Xiao would kill him as soon as he got close. But Xiao not only spared his life, he flirted with him every day, making suggestive remarks and steadily closing in on the young censor who had always prided himself on his propriety.
He thought it was all just a scheme to toy with his heart, that Xiao was only pretending to be enamored of him so he could lower Xie's guard and seize a chance to escape. He did everything he could to prevent Xiao from running away: locking him in a small room, keeping him bound at his side, and making him follow wherever he went.
What he didn't know was that the man pretending to flirt with him had fallen for him long ago, was obsessively devoted to him, and even wanted to take him by force.
"Lord Xie, what are you hiding from?"
"This subordinate isn't hiding."
"Then why are your ears red?"
He thought he was the one scheming against him.
He thought he was the one keeping his guard up.
But on a deck tossed by the waves, beneath the faint candlelight of a secret chamber, who fell first, and who was the first to surrender?
[I thought you were the prey. Only later did I realize I was the one who couldn't escape.]
