I Was Supposed to Focus on My Career, but I Was Forced to Become a Player

Yu Zuiyuan spent the first 14 years of his life surrounded by schemes and manipulation. After he broke out of that cage, he spent the next four years roaming the star systems, and eventually saw every side of human nature. He could no longer bring himself to trust or hope in anything called "love." He once built a vast organization, then casually handed it over to the last surviving heir of the family that had adopted him. There were also people who shared his ideals, willing to sacrifice their lives in pursuit of things as elusive as a passing cloud. Yet he, too, had once longed to be like the captain of the Ashen ship, a space pirate chief surrounded by brothers he could trust. Even those who had been manufactured had relationships far more successful than his own spirit, which had achieved nothing. He had seen a spy willing to disguise himself as a woman, yet burning with a devotion to his country that Yu Zuiyuan could never hope to touch. He had once come and gone freely from the Empire's highest research institute, chatting about life with Doctor Bai. He had also seen a general who roamed the world, then easily set everything aside to live a quiet life. Even the imperial prince at the heart of power had ambitions of his own. Only Yu Zuiyuan was like a homeless ghost, searching everywhere for a light that did not belong to him. But when he finally became utterly lost and stopped in his tracks, light came surging toward him from every direction, surrounding him and softly revealing emotions he did not understand. A protagonist adored by everyone x everyone. Open ending. You can read it as a shipping stock-picking story. It's sort of a group romance, but the protagonist is at its center. The characters might not appear in the same order as in the blurb, but the order of the supporting characters' profiles corresponds to the blurb. Blurb screenshotted on April 19. Theme: Those who chase the light will eventually be surrounded by it