I Became the Sickly Crown Prince in a Tragic Novel

[A top-tier scholar transmigrates into a book as a frail crown prince. A cruel melodrama becomes a satisfying power fantasy, with exes and backstabbing friends getting their comeuppance one after another. Fast-paced political intrigue. | After completion, the Jinjiang original received extensive editing, rewriting, and nearly half again as much new content. Pirated versions are different.]

The Secret History of the Crown Prince was originally a hugely popular novel about a beloved protagonist and choosing among love interests. Then the final chapter suddenly turned it into a tragic melodrama!

Readers flooded the comments section and sent the author trending with their insults.

Yan Xi, a top student in his final year of high school, wrote a long review listing all the author’s outrageous plot twists.

The author replied: “You think you know better? Here, you write it.”

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Yan Xi woke up to find he had become the novel’s protagonist: a crown prince who had been swindled out of his heart, his body, and his kingdom.

The mission setup promised he could return to the real world as soon as he ascended the throne.

So Yan Xi brought the same determination he’d had while preparing for the college entrance exams, treating each plot point like a practice question and setting himself three rules: no forgiving, no taking responsibility, no falling in love.

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Pathetic? Throwing himself at people? A doormat? A naive sweetheart? It was all an act.

His father using him? His brothers framing him? His friends deceiving him? His first love manipulating him? Just wait and see.

He lowered his head and cast his eyes down. His first love thought he was meekly admitting his mistakes, but Yan Xi couldn’t be bothered to soothe him with a single word, just waiting for him to get angry and leave.

He smiled and nodded. The villain thought he’d fooled a simpleton, but Yan Xi had already dug a massive pit and was waiting for him to fall in.

…

Little by little, the plot turned on its head:

His first love waited for him bitterly in the snow, while Yan Xi couldn’t even be bothered to lift the carriage curtain.

His fiancée drew her blade and killed for him, while he turned away and coolly wiped the splattered blood from his face.

His mentor broke his vow of celibacy for him, but Yan Xi pulled away in time, determined not to get emotionally involved. Instead, he went looking for someone else for a purely physical relationship.

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★ Yan Xi had never paid much attention to the mad Prince Song Beiming, a prince of a different surname.

To dispel a poison, they slept together once, twice, and then the nth time. Yan Xi thought, “He’s just a character in a book. No need to take it too seriously.”

The other man clearly regarded him as nothing more than an antidote, too.

Great. They were on the same page.

But then that man steadily raised Yan Xi all the way to the imperial throne.

Only on the day of his coronation, when Song Beiming knelt before the throne and lifted the beads of his crown, did Yan Xi finally see what kind of man he had provoked.

Song Beiming: “You said we were evenly matched, but I admit defeat. I’ll gladly kneel before you and be your lover.”

The serious version:

No one shields me from the wind and rain. No one leaves a lamp burning for me through the night. No one guards my borders. No one secures my place in this world.

Fate cannot make me kneel and beg for mercy.

Even the faintest light in the darkest night can illuminate the world.

We will no longer look up to the emperor.

We will hold the lanterns ourselves and create our own gods!

Content warnings:

1. An innocent, alluring, flirtatious bottom × a strong, handsome, tragic top. They sleep together first, then fall in love.

2. The bottom is good-natured by nature, but while following the plot, he treats everyone as characters in a book. He’s an emotionless test-taking machine and is utterly ruthless when he has to be. The top is genuinely ruthless.

3. Various side characters get their comeuppance.

4. Writing goal: a fast-paced political-intrigue novel that feels satisfying from beginning to end. In reality: a practice piece with no guarantees.

5. A word of warning: don’t fall in love with any supporting character too easily.

6. Original title: Once the Deed Is Done, Leave Without a Trace.

7. ● Pirated copies are all of the version that had just finished serializing before January 15. Over the following months, the original was extensively edited, rewritten, and expanded by nearly half, making it essentially version 2.0. Pirated versions are different.

Author’s Weibo: @Liu Xiaoge.

Here are two recommendations from me:

1. I recommend my previous completed novel, How Immortals and Demons Can Fall in Love Despite Their Different Paths. It currently has a rating of 10, based on over 100 votes. Feel free to check out the blurb and reviews before deciding whether to read it.

2. I’d also like to highlight my upcoming novel, Secretary Lin Resigns. It’s a modern workplace and entertainment-industry CEO romance.

Theme: Once the deed is done, leave without a trace, hiding both your person and your name. Believe that there are people in this world who carry lanterns into the darkness and are everywhere.