Disguised as the Heartthrob Older Brother, but It's Narcissistic Romance

◆ The glorious, celebrated present-day self, who takes his brother's place x the youthful past self, forgotten by the world

Yu Danyue's elder brother is dead.

But no one knows.

While accompanying Yu Xihe to Pichuan to control the floods, Yu Danyue is forced to the edge of a sheer cliff by rebellious bandits. At the critical moment, Yu Xihe, covered in blood, gives him a strained smile and lets go of Yu Danyue's hand, which is trying to pull him back. Then he is swallowed by the abyss along with the rocks tumbling from the cliff's edge.

But the sun of the Marquis Xuan Zhao's household cannot be allowed to fall.

...The one who fell from the cliff and whose life or death is unknown can only be "Yu Danyue," the marquis's second son.

Years later, after fighting his way through the struggle for the throne, helping the new emperor ascend the throne, and earning promotions and noble titles until he is made a prince, Yu Danyue chats with a former classmate from his youth, now a fellow court official. He smiles, bold and unrestrained, as if he has become "Yu Xihe" completely.

But on those nights no one knows about, when Yu Danyue sees in the mirror the face forced to bear a different name, he remembers the self who was buried in the ancestral shrine beneath a tomb built from his clothes: the self who was neither loud nor dazzling, and who was not so widely noticed or remembered.

"Everyone knows Yu Xihe. No one remembers me, Yu Danyue."

Yu Danyue's delusions grow worse and worse. Especially after sunset, he seems to become another person, sorrow filling his eyes.

One night, he whimpers and murmurs in his sleep: "...Brother, Danyue doesn't want to die. Save me, please save me. Don't leave me alone."

A retainer hears his words in his sleep. Once they spread unintentionally, many people come to visit and comfort him. Even the new emperor personally visits his residence to drink with him beneath the moon and gives him several paintings and calligraphy pieces he made at a palace banquet in his youth.

Thinking that Yu Danyue is sick with longing for his younger brother, the new emperor recalls the past and offers comfort: "These belonged to your younger brother. Look, this is his self-portrait."

In the painting, a figure wears an elegant, pale blue cross-collar robe, with a lifelike long-tailed green bird embroidered on the shoulder. His eyes are lowered in a smile as he gently brushes a dewdrop-covered night-blooming flower beside him.

The memories of his younger self return, and that night, Yu Zhanyue is no longer tormented by nightmares. After the new emperor leaves, he stands alone for a long time before the hanging portrait.

Yu Danyue raises a hand to touch the painted figure's brows and eyes, a sickly, fractured gentleness appearing on his face.

He seems close to forgetting who he is. Yet when he sees the youthful Yu Danyue, a desire he has repressed for years, too shameful to speak of, twists its way out of the earth in his heart. His other hand slowly slips beneath his underclothes as Yu Danyue, possessed, releases the soul trapped for years in a cage.

"Yu Danyue..." He repeats the name the world has forgotten, again and again, until his voice grows hoarse and tremulous.

Moonlight slants through the room, cold and bleak, yet the frost of night melts in Yu Danyue's palm.

Much later, he looks down at the silk handkerchief, damp and stained from being clutched in his hand, and smiles with ever-increasing madness. But his eyes hold a stubborn, unspeakable pain. "...This perilous road, step by step, I won't walk alone anymore. Yu Danyue, I won't abandon you."

◆ Pseudo-incest, selfcest, slight everyone-loves-me vibes.

◆ Who understands selfcest plus everyone-loves-me? The whole world loves "me," but I love myself most. Who! Gets! It!

◆ Because of the everyone-loves-me element, there are situations resembling a Platonic 1-v-many relationship, but all romantic plotlines with male supporting characters who aren't part of the selfcest pairing end in tragedy. Only the main selfcest pairing gets a happy ending. Read with caution if this is a trigger for you.

◆ The main story has a large ensemble cast, and the setup is lengthy. The cliff-fall scene from the blurb is expected around Chapter 24. Please read the content warnings in the author's note at the end of the first chapter before starting. *Bows.*

Theme: Don't lose your way alone on a winding road.