What! I'm the Beloved?

(This completed practice novel has been updated with bonus extras. The overall pace is slow and the tone is fairly subdued. Feel free to try the free chapters first. Thanks for reading. My currently updating historical danmei, The Cursed Beauty's Failed Attempt at Widow-Making, is introduced at the very end.)

Su Luo was born with an exceptionally oblivious nature, and people privately teased him as a block of wood who knew nothing of love.

But paired with his cool, composed, and excessively beautiful face, he became a cool beauty who could flirt without realizing it.

His outgoing, sunny childhood friend, a wolfish golden retriever type, pulled him into his arms, his bronze chest pressed against Su Luo's slender back. Su Luo merely turned his head slightly, glanced past the other man's burning gaze, and frowned. "Zhuo Ye, have you gained weight again lately? You're squeezing me so tight I can barely breathe."

The frosty senior from the law department took off his gold-rimmed glasses and gently smoothed Su Luo's tousled hair with a hand carrying a cool, delicate scent. He leaned in close, a faint blush rising on his pale face. Su Luo looked up into Cheng Xuezhou's deep eyes and asked with concern, "Senior, why is your face red? Are you feeling unwell? Do you have a fever?"

The seductive CEO slapped a contract down on Su Luo's lightly flushed knee and leaned close to his ear, his breath unsteady as he murmured, "The first minute after the contract takes effect is when you start fulfilling your duty to warm my bed."

Su Luo gave Gu Chengxi a sympathetic look and thought to himself: I hear men who tend to feel cold aren't very good in that department. Maybe I should take him to see a traditional Chinese doctor when we have time?

Even when the three men tried everything they could to win his favor right in front of him, Su Luo only tilted his head, his eyes full of innocence and confusion. What on earth were they fighting over?

Could it be that they wanted me to... keep all three of them in line at once?!

Oblivious beauty bottom x green-tea CEO top, with a law-student senior who's a frosty fox and a dark-skinned, athletic wolf-dog childhood friend

300% love-rivalry drama

Domineering CEO / Childhood friend becomes unexpected love interest / Chasing his spouse / Beloved by all bottom / Contract boyfriend / Men competing for the same love interest

--------------- Introduction to the historical danmei currently being updated ---------------

Title: The Cursed Beauty's Failed Attempt at Widow-Making

Xiao Fuxue is the celebrated star of the Yunshao Residence, as well as the infamous cursed loner known throughout the capital and beyond.

He supposedly killed his parents at birth. When he was seven, his entire clan was punished and exiled, and he himself was reduced to a lowly registered status, becoming a state entertainer at the Yunshao Residence.

At first, he cried and raged, but no matter how hard he tried, he could never escape Heaven's cruel tricks.

Whenever some high-ranking official or wealthy noble dared defy superstition and consider buying his freedom, disaster struck at once. At best, they lost their position and were punished; at worst, they lost their lives.

Everyone called him ill-omened and avoided him like the plague. Sometimes even he wondered: Was he really cursed to be alone?

As time passed, Xiao Fuxue stopped caring. He only wanted to live quietly. Perhaps one day the powers above would take pity on him and let him become an ordinary citizen.

But fate played another cruel trick on him.

After a banquet hosted by the officials, a stern, imposing man sat high on his horse and suddenly lifted Xiao Fuxue's chin with his riding crop. With keen interest, he said, "His Majesty is short of attendants. Someone like you... would be just right for the palace."

The palace? Him? An entertainer everyone called a cursed loner, someone they were all desperate to avoid?

He had thought it was just an offhand joke from a powerful noble at the expense of someone as lowly as himself. Little did he know that by that very evening, he would be sent to the emperor's bedchamber.

Only then did he learn that the man was the emperor's uncle, the regent.

And the "honor" of being personally sent into the palace by him was also thanks to Xiao Fuxue's cursed fate.

The prince wanted him to curse the frail, ailing emperor to death, but the emperor was secretly hale and hearty, and could easily live to eighty.

An ambitious general used him as a pawn to sow discord in the imperial family, locked in fierce rivalry with the regent.

An old friend, once inseparable from him at the Yunshao Residence, claimed to have entered the palace to find him, yet secretly harbored an unspoken secret.

Xiao Fuxue couldn't help frowning. Could his cursed-loner fate really bring down these powerful men?

He couldn't help looking again at the emperor, whose word could decide his life or death, who stood above all others, and who seemed so different from what he'd imagined.

If his life really was that tough, then he wanted to see who would break first: him at their hands, or them under his curse.

[Reader's Guide]

1. This is set in a fictional dynasty. Official titles, etiquette, institutions, and other details are invented to serve the story.

2. Wild-grass-type growing bottom x seemingly sickly, secretly scheming emperor top. The bottom only sings and dances for a living at the Yunshao Residence. Everyone is chaste!!! The story leans toward a beloved-by-all setup, so proceed with caution if that's not for you!

3. The protagonist's growth is the main focus, with the political intrigue as a secondary thread. None of the characters are perfect.

Theme: Treat true love with honesty and sincerity.