After the White Moonlight Faked Their Death and Was Reborn

Yun Lan, a graduate student in history, finds himself transported to ancient times. He thought he wouldn't survive three days, but a prophecy from the Imperial Observatory spared his life.

At the same time, the prophecy hinted that if he followed history and helped a great ruler make his mark in the annals, he could return home.

From then on, the Great Chu dynasty had a strategist hidden at the emperor's side.

During Emperor Xingde's reign, Yun Lan devoted himself to assisting him.

On the day the emperor died, Yun Lan took his own life in the main hall, claiming he was following his late sovereign.

But when he opened his eyes again, he was still in Great Chu.

...The good news was that this time, he had an identity, and a good one at that.

He had been reborn as Prince Hui, the adopted son of Emperor Xingde.

Because of his bloodline and dull wits, Prince Hui never had a chance to vie for the throne, but for that very reason, he lived to a ripe old age.

The bad news was that he discovered the crown prince had not succeeded to the throne. Instead, it was Prince Chen, another son of Emperor Xingde.

Back when he was trying to get home, Yun Lan had used the emperor's request that he tutor the princes as an opportunity to suppress all the princes except the crown prince. The one he had suppressed the most was this very Prince Chen, a man of deep cunning and exceptional skill.

As it happened, Prince Hui Zhuge Yue looked almost exactly like Yun Lan.

Yun Lan serenely closed his eyes. This is it. I'm doomed.

-

Yun Lan thought there might still be a way to save himself.

First, in his current identity, he was truly the adopted younger brother of all the princes.

Second, he considered himself a nobody. Even if he looked similar, surely no one would go out of their way to make things difficult for him.

In the first month after his rebirth, Fourth Prince Zhuge Xin clung to his adopted elder brother's leg and wailed, insisting he wanted to live at Prince Hui's manor.

In the second month, First Prince Zhuge Yu visited Prince Hui's manor and stared at him without looking away. "Prince Hui has certainly grown into a handsome man. Even more striking than Marquis Yun was back then."

In the third month, Third Prince Zhuge Sheng submitted a petition asking to marry his adopted younger brother.

Yun Lan: ...Wait, asking for what? Marry whom?

He hadn't been mistreated, but somehow he had become the unattainable beloved everyone longed for.

Yun Lan was beside himself. The one thing that comforted him was that the new emperor seemed perfectly normal. He never paid any attention to the rumors and even fended off all his suitors for him.

To Yun Lan, the new emperor, Zhuge Yi, was the person he felt most guilty toward.

In his eyes, Second Prince Zhuge Yi had been the best choice for the throne all along.

Out of guilt, he agreed to serve the new emperor wholeheartedly as Prince Hui, repaying him with an era of peace and prosperity.

But on the very night Yun Lan tried to leave again, an imperial edict summoned him to the palace.

He was pinned deep into the imperial bed. Looking at him, the new emperor smiled gently and said:

"Marquis Yun, your exceptional intelligence makes the position of prince consort a waste of your talents. The empress's throne is vacant. Why not take it?"

A scheming, deep-minded emperor X an openhearted, radiant beauty

Reader advisory:

1. The love interest is truly everyone's unattainable beloved, with a slight everyone-loves-him vibe.

2. The pursuer is Zhuge Yi.

3. The blurb is provisional.

Theme: Only by treating others sincerely can you receive the same sincerity in return.