Everyone at Imperial Military Academy knew Wei Yi hated Yi Chen.
The young master Wei had always had everything go his way and ranked first in everything, until he came second in the first-year final exams.
A civilian student admitted through a special program, Yi Chen, had stolen his top spot.
From then on, Wei Yi regarded Yi Chen as his greatest rival and vowed to reclaim first place in the second-year finals.
The more he watched Yi Chen, the more he realized how good he was at everything. He put the other useless, talentless students at the academy to shame.
But Wei Yi remained convinced that he was the top student in their year!
Then, on the eve of the second-year final exams, he found a book with Yi Chen as the protagonist, who was subjected to endless abuse.
In the first scene, Yi Chen was drugged and taken home by the youngest son of the Wei family, leaving him unable to sit his second-year finals.
Soon, he would become the shared slave of the empire's spoiled young masters, there for them to beat and torment as they pleased.
Wei Yi was so furious he hurled the book across the room. “Why on earth would those morons, with the brains of three-year-olds and the character of hardened convicts, dare lay a hand on my rival?”
That very night, he charged into the room of the younger brother he usually looked down on and rescued his rival.
*
Yi Chen was reborn at the start of his nightmare, filled with hatred and determined to take revenge on the “masters” who had ruined him in his previous life.
But for some reason, things were different this time. Before he could sink into the abyss, a young man named Wei Yi kicked down the door and dragged him back into the light.
The young master Wei looked at him with a scowl. While urgently calling to arrange a rapid-treatment pod, he awkwardly explained:
“If I weren't trying to compete with you, why would I bother taking some stupid exam? So hurry up and get better!”
Yi Chen stared at him for a long time, his gaze deep and inscrutable. Yet obediently, he climbed onto Wei Yi's back. “All right.”
*
Trouble caused by those scumbags came one after another, but before Yi Chen could even react, Wei Yi had already sheltered him from every storm.
When other families came after them, the young master stuck to the same excuse.
“Yi Chen is my rival. I'm the only one allowed to lay a hand on him!”
Many years later, Wei Yi put an arm around Yi Chen's shoulders, invited him to the 18,364th mecha match between them, and praised him. “You're the best rival I could ask for!”
Yi Chen leaned against him, his pretty face wearing an innocent expression. “Can I only ever be your rival?”
Wei Yi touched his inexplicably hot, flushed earlobes and felt his heart racing. He was even more certain: Yi Chen was the rival fate had chosen for him!
Look, just holding him in his arms was enough to get his blood pumping!
*
Yi Chen's subordinates watched the civilian major, invincible on the battlefield, lean openly against the hereditary duke they despised most, speaking to him softly. Slowly, they typed a question mark: ?
Wei Yi's attendants watched the mighty duke, a master of political intrigue, hold the civilian officer they looked down on most, cheeks flushed and looking utterly lovestruck. Slowly, they typed a question mark too: ?
*
Reading notes:
1. If anything, they're both beautiful, whether top or bottom, and both are stunning fighters.
2. No harem-like appeal, mutually exclusive, and they're both very much in love. The top is firmly the one in control in bed.
3. More notes may be added later.
Theme: Life is like the ocean. Only those with strong wills can reach the other shore.
