Pairing: Gentle, calculating noble strategist gong x gloomy, calculating, lone-wolf prince shou.
The gong is a young master from a powerful clan. He starts as a prince's study companion and rises to become the emperor's tutor, working tirelessly to support the prince he chose until he takes the throne. But after the young emperor ascends, one imperial decree accuses him of a nonexistent crime and sentences him to death.
Just before dying, the gong suddenly realizes that he's nothing but a cannon-fodder imperial tutor in a dog-eared novel.
The young emperor is the protagonist shou, and the tutor serves as a thorn in the young emperor's heart: a doomed romance, with the status of the official spouse, though he dies before he can claim the position.
The young emperor is interested in the gong.
but the gong: No, please! Are you trying to make me lose my teaching credentials?
The young emperor: If you won't join my harem, then die!
The gong does nothing but help the young emperor seize the throne and serve as one of the props in the original protagonist gongs' play with the shou.
The gong is shocked. The gong is numb. The gong is shaking with rage.
He'll never rest in peace if the empire ends up in the hands of an emperor like this!
Fueled by a fierce sense of responsibility and the conviction that "our dynasty must not fall," the gong is reborn.
After being reborn, the gong turns his attention to the shou, who was unloved and died young in his previous life.
The shou was a young general in his previous life, with a long list of military achievements. He was killed through the scheming of one of the protagonist shou's suitors.
The gong (smiling benevolently): Good boy, would you like to be emperor?
The shou (quietly hiding the dagger up his sleeve): "..."
Has this man been possessed by a ghost?
The gong raises the shou. Older mentor and younger student, with the gong starting out by approaching the shou purely for his talent. There's a bond between ruler and subject, but no romantic feelings.
To the gong, the shou isn't a person in his own right, just a ruler he rather likes.
He's loyal to the ruler and the empire, not to any person.
The gong goes from being wholly devoted to his career to slowly developing compassion for the shou.
The shou has little desire to live and wants to hang himself every day. He knows the gong approached him for a reason, but the gong once helped him when he was young, and he's always had a good impression of him, so he'll do whatever the gong asks.
Before being reborn, the gong was the model young master of a noble family. Afterward, he spends his days fooling around and ruining his reputation, afraid he'll be caught and made the original protagonist shou's tutor.
Both are reborn. The gong and shou are sickly invalids, having grown ill because both of them have died once and carry a lot of yin energy (not really).
Their health will improve later.
Every day, the gong (smiling benevolently): Your Highness, it's time for your medicine.
The shou (handing it back): Teacher, you first.
They down it in one go, such deep affection between them.
The thought of two sickly people pretending to be harmless while secretly outsmarting everyone and setting them up makes me laugh.
The gong (daily inner monologue): Good disciple, hurry up and pretend to be sick so we can scam them to death!
The shou understands at once, spits out a mouthful of blood, and collapses.
The gong (satisfied): My dear disciple is truly clever.
The shou (peacefully): It's all thanks to your teaching, Teacher.
Blurb to be revised, but the general idea will stay the same. Inspiration saved on 2025.10.30
Theme: Non-action is great wisdom.
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