Gu Yan'an was a cruel emperor. The more gentle and alluring his face looked, the more inhuman his deeds were.
For ten years as emperor, he had been overshadowed at every turn by Jiang Yingxue, a high-born, incorruptible chancellor.
He built a small palace by the sea, and Jiang Yingxue advised him that a plague had broken out in Yuzhou and the people were crushed by taxes.
He took several beauties as consorts, and Jiang Yingxue advised him that a wise ruler should attend diligently to state affairs and not indulge in lust.
He killed an insignificant county magistrate, and Jiang Yingxue advised him that taking human life so lightly could cost him the people's support.
Gu Yan'an narrowed his eyes and smiled.
Sooner or later, he would have this eyesore tortured to death.
Later, the chancellor was thrown into prison, shackled hand and foot, covered in bloody welts, and on the verge of death.
Everything had gone just as Gu Yan'an wanted.
With madness and smug delight glimmering in his eyes, Gu Yan'an smiled gently as he pressed a branding iron into Jiang Yingxue's chest.
And then he heard Jiang Yingxue's dying, self-mocking murmur:
"Ten years ago, you said you'd protect me for the rest of my life... Looks like I was wrong to trust you. I deserved to spend half my life falling for you..."
Gu Yan'an's face turned deathly pale, and the branding iron clanged to the ground.
Gentle, unhinged, sickly emperor bottom x devoted, single-minded, naturally affectionate chancellor top
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