I Really Want to Be a Wise Ruler

The in-text comment feature is now available. You need a subscription rate of at least ten percent to use it. Xiao Ling transmigrated into a book and became a tyrant. In the story, the tyrant lusts after the protagonist, Xie Zhirong, heir to Prince Huai’s title. He forcibly takes him into the harem and subjects him to all kinds of unspeakable, deranged abuse. In the end, after enduring it all, the heir rebels and cuts off the tyrant’s head with a single stroke. The day Xiao Ling wakes up, the palace is festooned with decorations and filled with celebration. He lifts the bridal veil of the person beside the bed and sees, beneath the dazzling beauty, a face as cold as frost and snow. Xiao Ling recognizes the male lead, Xie Zhirong, at a glance. Remembering his own miserable end, he cautiously moves behind the heir, unties the rope around Xie Zhirong’s wrists, and explains with a stiff smile, “Actually, I had no intention of humiliating you, heir. I did all this because... because I admire you so much!” After that, to avoid having his head chopped off, Xiao Ling treats Xie Zhirong with tenderness and consideration, indulges his every whim, and firmly keeps to his boundaries. He absolutely doesn’t dare lay a finger on the heir. At last, the major plot point arrives: foreign forces invade, the heir leads the army to a great victory, then returns to the capital to rebel and kill the emperor. When he hears that Xie Zhirong has returned, Xiao Ling personally rides more than ten miles out of the city to welcome him. He ennobles him and makes him chancellor, hoping to send him out of the palace in grand style. In the carriage back to the capital, the emperor and his minister travel together to show how favored Xie Zhirong is. Xiao Ling swears, “I now understand how outrageous and absurd my actions were. From now on, you are free to marry, leave, or go wherever you wish. I will not interfere.” Xie Zhirong, who hates him, despises him, and wants to kill him with his own hands, hears this and seems to have a dark look stirring in his eyes. He asks softly, “Has Your Majesty tired of me and decided you don’t want me anymore?” Everyone in the palace knows that the emperor is deeply devoted to Xie Zhirong. Whatever Xie Zhirong wants, the emperor gives him. The emperor’s favor is greater than any consort’s in the previous dynasty. But Xie Zhirong alone knows that the emperor who keeps saying he admires him looks at him no differently than he looks at a flower, an object, or any stranger with no connection to Xiao Ling. Proud as he is, on the night the emperor plans to send him out of the palace, Xie Zhirong finds the restraints once used to imprison him there and personally presents them to the emperor. He kneels, looks up at Xiao Ling, and says, “I beg Your Majesty to let me stay by your side.” A sometimes timid, sometimes bold, drama-loving emperor bottom (Xiao Ling) × a beautiful, deranged, calculating top (Xie Zhirong) A similar upcoming novel: The Protagonist Keeps Reloading and Starting Over Chen Xiao plays a game called Flourishing Age of Emperors. In it, he is a young, successful, free-spirited general. On his first playthrough, unfamiliar with the game, his rebellion fails and he is killed. As he faces execution, his close friend and fellow rebel, Xu Zhizhou, dies alongside him. Xu Zhizhou is the gentlest and most refined of men. Even as he dies, he remembers to comfort Chen Xiao. “To go to the underworld with you, A-Xiao, means my life was not in vain.” On his second playthrough, he and Xu Zhizhou fall out over their political views. To unlock an achievement, Chen Xiao chooses poison without hesitation. As he dies, blood and foam spill over Xu Zhizhou’s sleeve. With death near, he speaks sincerely: “I believe you’ll make a good emperor.” On his third playthrough... His fourth... His fifth... He happily unlocks every achievement in the game. The final ending sees him crowned emperor, a wise and benevolent ruler praised by all. Finding it dull, he never opens the game again. Xu Zhizhou feels as if he’s seen a ghost. He has no idea how many times he has died, only to wake up again at the palace gates, where he first met Chen Xiao. The young man is full of spirit. Smiling, he clasps his hands in greeting. “Good morning, Minister Xu.” In a nightmarish loop, he and Chen Xiao have rebelled together, faced death together, fought each other, and been close friends who shared the same ideals and risked their lives for one another. When he wakes again, Xu Zhizhou both loathes and longs for the cycle. This time, he is determined to keep Chen Xiao alive. But the cycle never comes. After Chen Xiao permanently deletes the game, he feels dizzy. When he opens his eyes, he sees Xu Zhizhou, not a game illustration, but a real, living person with warmth. But this time, the gentlest and most easygoing Xu Zhizhou doesn’t greet him with a smile and call him General. Instead, he clings tightly to Chen Xiao’s waist. Xu Zhizhou speaks softly, his eyes wild with madness. “A-Xiao, why do you keep leaving me behind, over and over?” He says, “Your Majesty, this time, stay by my side forever.” A carefree, easygoing bottom with an obsessive completionist streak (Chen Xiao) × a refined, eerily ghostlike, unhinged top (Xu Zhizhou) Theme: Respect other people’s wishes