The Brother I Took In Is a Brooding Tyrant

When Ming Zhen was ten, both her parents died, and she was entrusted to Xiao Yu, who was six years older than her.

Her older brother was gentle and considerate. From Ming Zhen's hairstyles and hairpins to her meals and daily routine, even the fragrance of the bath beans she used, he took care of everything himself.

Their life was not wealthy, but it was peaceful and happy.

Yet whenever she wanted to go down the mountain, Xiao Yu would stop her with one excuse or another.

At times like those, his clear, gentle gaze would turn dark and cloying, winding around Ming Zhen like a demon in the deep mountains, ready to devour its prey.

Ming Zhen was a little afraid, but she still yearned for the bustle and crowds outside. She was always plotting to sneak down the mountain and have some fun.

Then one day, Xiao Yu left without a word.

At last, Ming Zhen had an excuse to race down the mountain and run wild. But when she returned home after failing to find him, she discovered the little courtyard packed with people.

Before she knew what was happening, she was escorted back to the imperial palace. Looking up in the great hall, she saw Xiao Yu in elaborate black robes and a tall crown, reclining casually in the highest seat.

The townspeople said that the new emperor, Xiao Yu, had murdered his father and mother and slaughtered his brothers. He was a madman through and through.

But she had never imagined that the madman was the same older brother who tucked her in every night and personally styled her hair and painted her eyebrows.

And they had never been brother and sister at all.

After arriving in the capital, the new emperor Xiao Yu announced to the world that he was making his foster sister Ming Zhen the Grand Princess Who Guards the State.

He still indulged her just as he always had. Not only did he let her live in the palace and appear before him without kneeling, he even left a corner of the dragon throne for her to lean against. He did not mind when she dozed or doodled at his desk.

Ming Zhen grew more and more convinced that all the rumors were nonsense. Her sworn elder brother was, in truth, one of the finest men in the world.

Until she fell in love at first sight with the new top scholar, a man as noble and radiant as the wind and moon.

That day, as usual, she was nestled in Xiao Yu's arms, sweet-talking and pleading with him to issue an imperial decree arranging her marriage.

Who would have thought her usually gentle brother would turn stern? He not only crushed the cup in his hand, but found an excuse to send the top scholar far away to the northern frontier.

Everyone trembled at the new emperor's unpredictable temper. Ming Zhen could not understand why the brother who had always been busy finding her a husband now hated the man she had chosen.

Furious, she packed her things and tried to leave. But before she could even get through the palace gate, Xiao Yu caught her and brought her back.

"What exactly did that man say to trick you into cruelly abandoning your brother, Zhenzhen?"

In the bedchamber, Xiao Yu's expression seemed perfectly normal, gentle and calm to the point of being eerie. Yet he drove Ming Zhen backward, step by step, until she stumbled against the dressing table.

In the bronze mirror, the emperor's expression was dark as he bowed his head and kissed away her tears, over and over.

As her consciousness grew hazy, Ming Zhen heard Xiao Yu's hoarse voice: "...Zhenzhen, I regret it."

"The Zhenzhen I raised with my own hands should be with me forever. How could I give her to someone else?"

He should take her back and hide her away, so that day and night, she would see only him and no one else.

Core idea: Face your own life with a positive attitude.