Words of Love, Too Late

Zhu Guanyu has never been short of affection or love.

He is the eldest son of the Prince of the Southeast's household, born to noble status and blessed with extraordinary looks. His admirers are as numerous as fish crossing a river. The prince and princess doted on him as he grew up, making him proud, pampered, and utterly imperious.

When he reached a marriageable age, the distinguished young gentlemen of the Southeast fiefdom were all his to choose from, but he looked down on every one of them, with his nose practically in the air.

The prince had no choice but to send him to the capital for the autumn hunt, hoping he would find a suitable husband among the talented young men who had come from all over the country.

On the first day of the hunt, among a crowd of dashing young Qianjun, Zhu Guanyu glanced around and spotted the most outstanding one.

Broad shoulders, long legs, sharp brows and bright eyes. He was handsome and dashing, with a boyish innocence about him. He looked as if he had been made to match Zhu Guanyu's exact type.

Zhu Guanyu: Who's the tallest and most handsome one?

Attendant: Young Master, that's Qin Xiao, heir to the Jingyuan Marquis.

Zhu Guanyu: That name sounds familiar.

Attendant: Young Master, when you were little...

Zhu Guanyu: His name belongs on my marriage contract.

Attendant: ...

Looking back afterward, Zhu Guanyu thought he must have been bewitched at the time. There were so many men in the world, so why had this one become the only one for him? He had written over a hundred love letters and even sent away the jade pendant he had worn since childhood, which bore the same name as him. He had never thrown himself at anyone like that in his life.

All he got in return was a single line from Qin Xiao: There's no need for that.

He thought Qin Xiao was just slow to catch on. He never imagined that one day, while everyone was playing cuju together, he would see Qin Xiao bring along an unfamiliar Kunjun.

As Qin Xiao spoke with that Kunjun, a shy smile appeared on his face, one Zhu Guanyu had never seen before.

...So it wasn't that Qin Xiao was slow to catch on. He had simply caught on for someone else.

Qin Xiao walked over with the Kunjun. Everyone around them was watching. As the unnecessary third person between two people in love, Zhu Guanyu's face burned. He wanted to leave with dignity, to offer them his sincere blessing. He tugged at the corners of his mouth, but couldn't even manage a smile.

As if things couldn't get worse, the cuju goal fell apart during the game. Zhu Guanyu was slow to run and scraped his arm against a wooden post. His attendants and servants crowded around him in a panic to check the injury and apply medicine, yet he saw Qin Xiao kneeling on the ground, personally tending to that Kunjun.

His attendant looked at him cautiously. Young Master...

Zhu Guanyu: Let's go back to the Southeast.

On their last night in the capital, they attended a banquet and got drunk. By a twist of fate, they woke up in the same bed the next morning.

Zhu Guanyu didn't look at Qin Xiao's expression. He simply said, "Give me back my jade pendant."

He reclaimed the jade pendant named "Guanyu" and returned to the Southeast, where he went back to being the carefree, much-adored eldest son of the prince's household.

The prince tentatively asked him, "How about I arrange a martial arts tournament to find you a husband, son?"

Zhu Guanyu replied lazily, "Sure."

As one of the most talked-about young Qianjun in the capital, Qin Xiao had seen countless beauties. The eldest son of the Prince of the Southeast's household was just one of them, nothing special, though he might need a little more time to forget him.

With his father away fighting on the frontier, he would hold the marquis's household steady amid the currents running beneath the surface of the capital.

...It had been so long since he had heard any news from the Southeast. Could someone with the eldest young master's personality really sit still?

He asked his servant Zhusheng, who answered with a grin, "My lord, you didn't know? The eldest young master is holding a martial arts tournament to find a husband!"

and then Zhusheng watched his master's face turn black in an instant.

Qin Xiao hurried to the Southeast, but Zhu Guanyu already had another man by his side, younger than Qin Xiao and a thousand times more honey-tongued.

Qin Xiao pulled out the old love letters. "Do the things you wrote in these letters no longer count?"

Zhu Guanyu glanced at one. In it, he had offered up his whole heart and made a fervent promise.

"No matter when, I will always choose you."

He smiled, then loosened his fingers. The letter fell into the brazier and half of it burned away in an instant. Qin Xiao hurriedly snatched it out, only to hear him say

"I've changed my mind. You're too late."

Mutual pining (they only ever love each other, with no first love or third party), bittersweet romance, an extremely intense groveling-to-win-back-your-wife arc, and an ancient-setting ABO world with Qianjun, Hezhe, and Kunjun.

Top: Qin Xiao, equally formidable in strength and looks, stoic as a machine in public and a puppy devoted to his wife in private.

Bottom: Zhu Guanyu, an extremely looks-focused, proud and pampered peacock of a princess, and a stunning beauty.

Theme: Love should be spoken aloud.