The Best of Both Worlds

How can one find a way to satisfy both, to wrong neither the Buddha nor one's beloved?

1.

From the moment Ming Jingguan personally pulled the merfolk bones from his own body, branded the merfolk as a dying race, and began their merciless slaughter, he knew the merfolk would eventually take his life. He just never thought it would happen so soon. The moment he saw Tang Yu, he knew this was his destined death, one he could not escape. Ming Jingguan did try to evade that fate, but in the end he was defeated by Tang Yu's eyes, which seemed to sparkle with a thousand stars.

"This is fate. It commands me to love you."

2.

From the day it was named, Bone City had known no disputes or entanglements. Then, all at once, trouble erupted and everyone grew uneasy. As the city's lord, Ming Jingguan furrowed his brow over each incident, while Tang Yu claimed a place in his heart with every new disturbance. Xia Changsheng once told Ming Jingguan that Tang Yu was not as harmless as he seemed, but Ming Jingguan shook his head and refused to believe it. Even when he could no longer hide the fact that someone was behind the trouble, he only smiled at Tang Yu.

"I still dared to hope that you might love me too."

The words "How can one find a way to satisfy both" refer to Tang Yu. It's not exactly a tender story, but there's not a lot of emotional entanglement either. They simply fell in love with each other, yet had no choice but to stand on opposite sides. In the end, Ming Jingguan was the first to give up. It wasn't that he loved more; it was simply that he had little to hold him back.

Don't read the story through the lens of the blurb. That way, their feelings won't seem so mixed up with ulterior motives or anything else, at least until the truth is finally revealed.

It's hard to say whether this is from the pursuer's or the pursued's point of view. ... I think they're both protagonists, after all, and a romance takes two people! But since it's from Jingguan's perspective, well.