The gentle, warmhearted, dashing prince of the mortal realm, born to wealth and privilege
VS
A mischievous, troublesome dragon who fell to earth after incurring Heaven's wrath
[Temporary Blurb: A Rough Sketch of the Idea]
The dragon was punished, and the Primordial Heavenly Worthy ordered him to descend to the mortal world and protect its future emperor. The essence of his spiritual dragon soul would take the tribulations destined for the short-lived emperor, in the hope of preserving peace for a few more years.
According to the Judge of the Underworld's Book of Life and Death, the emperor would face three tribulations in his lifetime:
A life-and-death tribulation in childhood, one in youth, and one in middle age.
The dragon snorted. "Come on, how are they all life-and-death tribulations? How many bolts of lightning am I supposed to take?"
The Heavenly Worthy waved his sleeve. "Relax. It won't just be lightning strikes. There'll be blades and spears, schemes and poison, palace coups, blood-soaked capital cities, battlefields a thousand miles away, and a hundred-mile funeral procession. You've got a long road ahead of you, boy!"
Dragon: "..."
For the sake of his cultivation, the dragon steeled himself and, the moment the crown prince was born, zipped into the palace and attached himself to an accessory worn by the future emperor of the mortal realm. From then on, he served as the crown prince's guardian spirit for years.
During the crown prince's childhood, the dragon transformed into the silver bell on his necklace.
When the crown prince was a boy, the dragon hid in the jade dragon eye on his sword.
When the crown prince reached adulthood, he rarely wore personal accessories anymore. Tired of moving from one object to another every few days, the dragon simply condensed himself into a drop of blood, which landed on the crown prince's chest and grew into a vermilion mole.
One night, while bathing, the crown prince looked down at the mole that had appeared on his chest halfway through his life. Suddenly, he extended a finger and started picking at it furiously.
The dragon's tailbone hurt from all the picking. Unable to bear it, he revealed his true form, opened his enormous jaws, and roared furiously at the crown prince.
But the crown prince wasn't scared to death. Instead, he calmly raised his hand and grasped the dragon's paw.
The dragon blinked in astonishment. "What are you doing?"
The crown prince smiled. "You haven't bathed in all these years, have you?"
Core theme: To be decided