Your Highness, Please Don't Let Me Die

[This is the final version, revised throughout for typos and added detail. It differs from pirated copies. Thank you for supporting the official edition.]

Jiang Yanzhou has had a rough life since childhood. His life motto is to be miserable and happy about it: living doesn’t matter, and neither does dying.

His greatest hero is Emperor Wu of the Qi Dynasty, Xiao Yunlang, who lived a thousand years ago.

Like Jiang Yanzhou, Xiao Yunlang had a difficult childhood. But he put down rebellions, eliminated powerful in-laws, repelled foreign enemies, and brought order to the realm. Step by step, he rose to the imperial throne and ushered in an age of peace and prosperity. He was everything Jiang Yanzhou admired but could never become.

The hardest part to write about in Xiao Yunlang’s brilliant life was probably the time he was Crown Prince. Held in check by powerful ministers, he was forced to marry a man and make him his consort.

According to the history books, the Crown Princess was the same age as Xiao Yunlang. They married at eighteen, and less than a year later, the Crown Princess died of illness.

Now Jiang Yanzhou has transmigrated into the role of that short-lived Crown Princess.

Jiang Yanzhou, dressed in wedding robes: …

Something this good can happen?

Whether he dies or not doesn’t matter. Neither does the fact that his identity will make people suspicious. What matters is getting to watch Emperor Wu restore the realm up close!

Jiang Yanzhou, a devoted fan of the emperor’s career, is thrilled.

So thrilled that on his wedding night, he promptly coughs up three pints of blood, splattering the bridal chamber.

Xiao Yunlang: !??

The young Crown Prince looks at the spy the powerful minister has sent to his side, full of suspicion.

What kind of spy is half-dead all the time?

In the face of grand ambitions, Jiang Yanzhou doesn’t care about his own life at all. He uses his sickly body to take an arrow for Xiao Yunlang, works day and night to sort out the affairs of the court, and even offers himself in exchange for a kidnapped official.

Before he passes out, he thinks he’s done for and feels relieved.

But when he wakes up, he finds Xiao Yunlang’s eyes red with tears.

The future emperor takes his hand with trembling fingers, his fear still lingering. In a hoarse voice, he says, “…Jiang Yanzhou, I’m begging you. Please take care of yourself. Stop trying to die. If you have nothing else to live for… then do it for my sake, please?”

Jiang Yanzhou blinks. I wasn’t trying to die?

At the same time, listening to Xiao Yunlang’s despairing plea, Jiang Yanzhou feels his heart slowly beat again. In a daze, he thinks: So there’s someone in this world who wants me to live.

…Then I suppose I can try living a little longer.

One-on-one, happy ending. A self-destructive bottom who doesn’t realize it × a top with eight hundred schemes for court politics but is exceptionally devoted in love. The bottom has a mental illness but doesn’t know it himself.

Two young men rely on each other amid the chaos of their youth, overcome countless hardships, and stand side by side in a prosperous age.

May everyone who reads this story learn to love themselves.

PS: 1. The dynasty is fictional, entirely made up. Please be kind, historical accuracy enthusiasts, and don’t overthink it.

2. The political scheming is amateurish, but I did my best. Hands pressed together in apology.

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1. Historical cultivation novel: The Villain Refuses

Mu Moxue was born in a mound of bones. He was raised by heaven and earth, with no one to teach him, and grew into a beautiful little monster, innocent yet wicked.

He is good to anyone who treats him well. Anyone who tries to hurt him gets killed.

After he kills someone one day, a thing called the System finds him and asks whether he’d like to play the villain, causing trouble for the protagonist and helping him gain experience.

Complete the mission, and it will help him escape the mound of bones.

Mu Moxue readily agrees. “Sure, sure!”

He eagerly goes to meet the protagonist, only to discover that it’s the one older boy who was ever truly kind to him when they were children.

Mu Moxue: …

What kind of stupid mission is this? He’s not doing it!

Mu Moxue uses the System’s information to stir up trouble.

The protagonist is supposed to have his spiritual roots crippled and be bullied by everyone. Instead, Mu Moxue slaps anyone who comes near him, giving the protagonist some peace and quiet.

The protagonist is supposed to fall off a cliff half-dead. Instead, Mu Moxue safely gets him to the ground and takes him treasure-hunting.

Mu Moxue can’t bear to let his big brother suffer even a little. He smiles as he watches the protagonist recover, while enduring the backlash from failing his missions every day.

Mu Moxue smiles and acts cute. “It hurts so much.”

Thinking he was born with an illness, the protagonist holds him and comforts him, vowing to cure him.

Mu Moxue likes being held by him. It’s warm.

Then the truth comes out: Mu Moxue has killed the son of an Immortal Venerable, and every immortal sect comes after him.

Mu Moxue thinks his big brother will abandon him, just like everyone else.

But that man stands in the way of every immortal sect, covered in wounds and refusing to take a single step back. “I trust him.”

Mu Moxue smiles.

“Brother Shaoyuan, I have another gift for you.”

Mu Moxue turns his sword against himself. Blood sprays everywhere.

He closes his eyes and hears the System announce: Important villain has died. The protagonist receives a generous reward!

Even in death, he is utterly content.

*

Pei Shaoyuan was once heaven’s favored child. But one day his spiritual roots were destroyed, and even his closest mentor and fellow disciples turned their backs on him.

He thought that was simply the way people were, until he met Mu Moxue.

This beautiful young man, who had appeared from nowhere, said Pei Shaoyuan had once given him a piece of candy, and he’d come to repay the favor.

The boy stayed by his side through every peril, helping him through the darkest days of his life.

Rumors gradually spread that Mu Moxue was a monster with ulterior motives, planning to harm him. Pei Shaoyuan wasn’t swayed.

But just as Pei Shaoyuan regained his former glory, the immortal sects drove Mu Moxue to his death.

For the sake of the sweet he’d given him as a child, Mu Moxue gave him his life.

When the mound of bones, sealed for a thousand years, opens again, everyone sees the young man deep among a million skeletons, wrapped in the purest light.

He was born in the filthiest place in the world, from the most beautiful wishes of a million souls.

Pei Shaoyuan trembles as he embraces his little monster, the treasure he thought he had lost forever.

At last, Mu Moxue stops smiling. He cries as he clings to Pei Shaoyuan.

“Brother, I want to go home.”

One-on-one, happy ending. Two young men stumble through life side by side, leaning on each other and learning what it means to be human and what it means to love.

PS: Mu Moxue grew up under unusual circumstances, so his values are unusual, too. He’s so innocent he’s almost wicked. Please don’t judge him by ordinary standards. He’s not perfect.

2. Historical romance: Forced to Marry the Tyrant

Lu Yunran transmigrates.

His life in the modern world was miserable, but fortunately he had a friend who always protected him. For this friend, Lu Yunran is willing to give up all the wealth and status he gains after transmigrating. He only wants to complete his mission and return to the modern world to see him.

The System’s mission is to kill the tyrant and save the realm.

Lu Yunran enters the harem as a tribute beauty.

They say the king is cruel and bloodthirsty, with no limits to his brutality. The beauties sent by every country go in standing and come out lying down.

Lu Yunran prepares to assassinate him. But when the tyrant arrives, he looks up and

Wait, the tyrant looks just like my buddy from the modern world!

Qin Heng arrived in this wretched era and suffered from childhood. By eighteen, he had grown into a cold, sinister young king.

He had killed one batch after another of the spies sent to his side from every corner of the realm.

But the person sent this time is a little different.

He looks exactly like the person Qin Heng had secretly loved in the modern world, and even has the same name.

After being ground down by this dark world, Qin Heng is dazed for a moment.

…If this kid doesn’t cause trouble, maybe he can live.

But then word comes that the kid wants him dead, too.

Qin Heng thinks with regret that he isn’t his Lu Yunran after all.

He deliberately gets wounded to give Lu Yunran an opening, waiting for him to make a move so he can take them all down in one go.

The tyrant is already picturing them drenched in blood.

But Lu Yunran only stares at his wound and silently cries.

“…Qin Heng, does it hurt?”

“How long have you been here? How did things get this bad for you?”

Qin Heng’s sneer freezes on his face.

For the first time, the tyrant who makes the whole world tremble is flustered and at a loss.

His Lu Yunran has come.

But Qin Heng can no longer find the boy who used to make Lu Yunran laugh.

One-on-one, happy ending. They transmigrate at the same time, but arrive in different periods because of the timing. Both grow and stumble their way through learning to survive, learning to love, and facing life together.

[My author page also has the historical xianxia romance The Cannon Fodder Junior Sister Goes on a Killing Spree and historical danmei They All Went Mad After the Most Hated Man Faked His Death, among others. Come check them out!]

Theme: Work hard and love life