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A Taste of Forced Love

An imperious, arrogant emperor who has spent years doing as he pleases sets his sights on a refined and elegant new top scholar. Defying the whole world, he insists on taking the scholar into the palace as his empress.

Of course, the scholar refuses the imperial decree. And of course, it would be even better if he had a cousin who loved him back, was already discussing marriage with him, and had agreed to elope. The enraged emperor would then personally lead the palace guards to break up the couple and drag the scholar back to the palace. He would use every means imaginable, from locking him up and threatening him to tempting him with favors and drugging him, wishing he could lay the finest treasures in the world before him to win his heart. But the scholar comes from an eminent family and has an unyielding spirit. He refuses to give in, and every time the emperor goes to see him, he leaves fuming.

Whenever the emperor gets angry, he takes it out on the ministers. When he flies into a rage, the ministers know he has suffered another setback with the scholar. More anxious than the emperor himself, they take it out on the scholar's father. Every time the ministers finish dragging the scholar's father around by the neck, he hears the news, and hates the emperor even more. Sometimes he feels like killing him, treasonous as that would be.

The scholar is a breathtaking beauty who really will bite when pushed too far. He either goes at the emperor with a blade or threatens to kill himself. But the emperor is such a lunatic that he isn't even afraid of dying. He says he's already drawn up an imperial edict: if he dies, the scholar will have to follow him in death. The disgrace of having bewitched the emperor will haunt the scholar and his family for millennia. A family that could have earned lasting honor in history will be dragged down and remembered with infamy forever. Besides, the court historian is his man, so he can write whatever he wants.

The emperor says it would be lovely if they died together. Then they could stay together even in death. In life, the scholar refuses to yield; after death, their bones will decay into a single heap, and no one will be able to tell them apart. He'll even make sure some of his own erotic paintings are buried with them, have them written into the history books and framed, so their descendants can praise the greatness of their love. Wonderful, wonderful. It'll make you furious and me happy.

The scholar is really going to be angered to death by him.

Actually, if the emperor had chosen to take his time and confess his feelings, the scholar would have accepted him. But the emperor was a lifelong bachelor for over thirty years, and when his heart finally blossomed, he couldn't control himself around the scholar. No one had ever taught him how to love. They had only taught him that an emperor held the power of life and death, and that the whole world should accept his favors, including the scholar. The scholar's refusal makes the emperor furious, but he still racks his brains trying to placate him. Unfortunately, the emperor's greatest flaw is his stubborn mouth, and he's also sharp-tongued. He'll insist a deer is a horse, and every time he tries to soothe the scholar, he only makes him even angrier.

But:

When the scholar gets angry, the emperor thinks: A little cat, all flustered and baring its claws. Even its paws are soft. Adorable.

When the scholar wants to kill him, the emperor thinks: A little wildcat that knows how to scratch. He's using me to sharpen his claws. Adorable, adorable, adorable, adorable, adorable...

The scholar: ...

Theme: Give sincerity to receive sincerity.