Sir, You Were Meant to Rule the Realm

Luo Chen is the chancellor of Daxing, clever and capable, coughing every few steps. Even lavish purple robes only serve to accentuate his beauty.

The entire court both loves and hates him. They love his cleverness, competence, handsome face, and frail health. They hate his impartiality and the calculations hidden beneath his smiling words.

The emperor trusts him. They say the emperor watched him grow up and raised him with his own hands, then appointed Luo Chen as the crown prince's tutor, certain that he would strengthen the imperial authority like iron.

The emperor could only weep inwardly. Raised him with his own hands? Made him the crown prince's tutor? He wasn't worthy of such a task! What kind of extraordinary person could teach someone like Luo Chen? He'd only wanted to play with a child.

Yes, play with a child. Luo Chen thought Crown Prince Gu Xiang was small and stiff-faced, and wanted to make him blush. The kingdom could come later.

As for lessons, the first thing he taught Gu Xiang was "wander through a garden of flowers without a single blade of grass touching you." He took him out of the palace to visit a brothel. They were only there to play, of course, and did nothing else.

When they returned to the palace, the two emperors, one big and one small, both had dark expressions. Before either could say a word, Luo Chen started coughing, and they rushed to fuss over him, bringing tea and water.

Then they started drinking again. Gu Xiang had built up a tolerance, but Luo Chen was still a lightweight and got more and more dazed as he drank.

The little brat grew taller and taller. Before he knew it, he was taller than Luo Chen. The two of them were each other's natural nemesis, or so Luo Chen thought.

The little brat listened to everything he said, except when it came to drinking or visiting the brothel. Then Luo Chen either had to carry him back or watch him ignore everyone with a stern face.

One drizzly morning, Luo Chen called Gu Xiang over. "Xiangxiang, I'm afraid I don't have much time left."

The young man turned red-eyed, his voice trembling. "T-Teacher, you haven't even seen me perform my coming-of-age ceremony. How can you... make a joke like that?"

Luo Chen stroked his head and simply smiled. "I should have left long ago. I'm tired of all this wealth and glory."

Not long afterward, the army set out to quell the fighting. Gu Xiang rode his warhorse and looked up at the city walls, where a purple figure stood, dazzling and unrestrained.

"Teacher, when I return to the capital, I'll bring wine from beyond the frontier, and we'll drink our fill together."

He paused, then said, "All right. We'll drink until neither of us can stand."

But when Gu Xiang returned victorious, the figure that had haunted his dreams and filled his thoughts day and night was nowhere to be seen on the city wall.

He went mad with grief and ignored everyone trying to stop him as he opened the coffin buried underground.

The purple robes were just as they had been, his elegance undiminished.

Kneeling before the coffin, Gu Xiang wept aloud for the first time.

Later, the young man, red-eyed and frantic, searched everywhere for him.

When they met again:

"Teacher, you made me search everywhere for you."

"I want an era of peace and prosperity, harmony among all people, and life for every living thing. I want you by my side, accompanying me as I rule."

"If I only get half a lifetime with you, that's a bad deal. But never mind. That half a lifetime is the rest of my life, after all, my prince."

[Mindless fluff? Maybe.]

[Writing is hard. Please don't mention other authors by name under their stories or mine.]

[If this resembles another story, I honestly don't know about it. I wrote this down in a notebook when I was still in school.]

[This is my first book, and my writing is still rough. I hope you'll give it a chance. I'll keep working hard!]

Theme: I'll trade the kingdom for one glance from you