A Shadow Cast by the Lantern

Upcoming: Has Lord Yan Impeached His Husband Today? Young Spouses

Blurb:

[Teacher and Student] [Handsome Top, Beautiful Bottom] [Eleven-Year Age Gap] [Secret Crush] [Childbirth] [Short Story] [Size Difference]

Obsessive, scheming younger puppy top x gentle, beautiful married bottom

Bai Yu is the Crown Prince's tutor. Nearly thirty, he has no interest in women and not even a marriage prospect.

That is, until the Princess of Kumo comes to the capital and sets her sights on him at first glance.

Bai Yu looks at the eyes fixed on him by everyone present: "..."

He is just about to make an excuse when a clear voice rings out: "This son has come of age and has fallen for a peerless beauty. My heart is set for life. I beg Father to grant me this marriage."

It is Prince Heng, Pei Lang, his student and the child he watched grow up.

Bai Yu breathes a sigh of relief, feeling quite pleased. The Second Prince has grown up, he thinks. He knows to seize the moment and ask for the hand of a good match, and he even knows to help his teacher out of a tight spot.

But just as he lets his guard down, his good student curls his lips into a secret smile. "The beauty this son has fallen for is Bai Yu, Tutor to the Crown Prince. I will marry no one but Bai Yu in this life. I beg Father to grant his favor and make this marriage possible."

Everyone: "...? Am I deaf?"

Bai Yu: "...!!! You have the wrong person, child!"

Pei Lang: ᓀ‸ᓂ After secretly loving my teacher for years, the day has finally come.

-

Pei Lang has admired his tutor since he was a child.

Until one day, that admiration turned into something else.

In his youthful dream, Teacher Bai wears a gauzy robe, bewitching as flowing water. He teases his student until his nose starts bleeding, and says he wants to share a night of passion with him.

Pei Lang first tries to hold himself back and refuse. "Teacher... I don't know how."

In the end, he can't resist: "Please... teach me, Teacher."

Pei Lang wakes with a start.

Oh, so he has a crush on his teacher.

From then on, if anyone confesses to his teacher, he ruins it. If anyone flirts with him, he blocks them. If anyone wants to marry him, he... marries his teacher first!

His teacher says it is against the rules, so he strikes first: "That day, Teacher was given an aphrodisiac and kept saying you liked Lang'er. Lang'er took you seriously."

The little schemer looks aggrieved. "Hmph... You heartless man."

Bai Yu: "..." ???

Later, on the night Prince Heng and Tutor Bai complete their wedding rites, Pei Lang shows not the slightest embarrassment when they consummate their marriage.

Bai Yu is baffled and asks where he learned all that.

Pei Lang shakes his head. "You taught me, Teacher, in my dreams."

[Little Bonus Scenes]

① Pei Lang accidentally splashes tea on the back of his hand.

Bai Yu takes a handkerchief and gently wipes Pei Lang's hand. "You should be more careful, Pei Lang."

Pei Lang: Teacher called me Pei Lang, like 'dear.' He has feelings for me!

② After they have a baby:

Bai Yu gently coos to the little heir in his swaddling clothes. "My precious..."

Pei Lang perks up his ears and puts on a pitiful expression. "He's your precious, so what does that make Lang'er...?"

Bai Yu has no choice but to soothe him. "He's my little precious, and Lang'er is my big precious."

The little schemer nods with great reluctance. "Mm, I'm Guanyun's precious."

^_^ The early chapters mostly use the top's perspective, while the later ones mostly use the bottom's perspective (｡ì _ í｡)

① A sweet story with two devoted partners and an eleven-year age gap. A scheming, loyal puppy with a gentle beauty. Probably no angst. The top is respectable in public!

② Childbirth. The child calls the bottom