After the Gloomy One Is Reborn

At sixteen, Fu Rong was sent to the palace for his father's crimes and assigned to the Cold Palace as companion to the neglected Fifth Prince, Qin Wu. Through those endless days and nights of being bullied, Fu Rong found a way to console himself. - Fu Rong was the son of a disgraced minister, while Qin Wu was the son of a discarded consort. - Fu Rong was gloomy and timid, while Qin Wu was sinister and cruel. Everyone in the palace said they were made for each other. And it was true: he fell in love with Qin Wu. Because he loved Qin Wu, Fu Rong did everything he could to get him fresh food and warm bedding. Because he loved Qin Wu, Fu Rong risked his life sneaking out of the palace to deliver letters to court officials on his behalf. Because he loved Qin Wu, when Qin Wu launched his coup, Fu Rong braved a rain of arrows to open the palace gates for him. As the gates opened, Fu Rong collapsed from exhaustion in front of a horse. He looked up and saw Qin Wu on horseback, standing alongside the refined young master of the Lin family. Qin Wu merely glanced at him and rode past. Later, Qin Wu ascended the throne, and the young master of the Lin family rose swiftly through the ranks. Fu Rong had thought he, too, could find his happy ending with them. But he was wrong. To Qin Wu, the young master of the Lin family was a new beginning, a fine tale of harmony between ruler and subject, and the grandeur of a nation bowing before its sovereign. But Fu Rong was filth, a past he didn't want to revisit, a memory stained with blood and mud. Over a minor matter, Fu Rong was sent back to the Cold Palace. On a snowy night, while Qin Wu and the young master of the Lin family enjoyed a cozy talk between ruler and subject, Fu Rong died quietly, unnoticed. * When he opened his eyes again, Fu Rong had returned to his first day assigned to the Cold Palace. He stood before its gates, then immediately turned around, handed all his belongings to the eunuch in charge, and begged him to find him another assignment. Fu Rong was transferred to the Princes' Residence. In their free time, the princes around his age would take him along to play. The gentle and generous First Prince held his hand and taught him pitch-pot. The lively Second Prince grew impatient and urged them on, while the reserved Third Prince comforted him, telling him not to rush. Only the Fifth Prince, Qin Wu, who lived in the Cold Palace and wasn't allowed into the Princes' Residence, hid outside the door, eyes bloodshot, staring fixedly at the faint smile on Fu Rong's face. - This is a melodramatic story, a melodramatic story, a melodramatic story! Both leads are reborn. The seme is pure in body and mind in both his past and present lives, while the uke will date other people. Specific content warnings are in the author's note for Chapter One. - Reading is like crossing a river by feeling for stones: everyone has their own experience. I welcome readers' opinions, but please don't treat imagined plot points as real and use them to attack me personally. Theme: Don't wait until it's too late to regret it before you learn to cherish what you have.