After the Black Lotus Caught the Grumpy Demon Emperor's Eye

(*A “scary face” means someone looks fierce when expressionless, like a bad person, though they might not actually be angry.)

After transmigrating into a fantasy novel, Lian Mo assessed the situation.

His older brother was one of the seven chosen ones destined to defeat the Demon Emperor. After going through a series of monster battles, power-ups, and recruiting followers, he would become a winner in life.

As for Lian Mo, he was the black-hearted younger brother who acted like he and his half-brother were close, but secretly grew twisted with jealousy and schemed to harm him.

Lian Mo didn't want to meet the same tragic end as in the book, so he decided to lie flat.

He had no interest in working himself to the bone to cultivate. With his brother there to protect him, wouldn't it be wonderful to live a comfortable life as a wealthy man?

However, his idiot brother was always in danger, with his life hanging by a thread. To secure his own comfortable future, Lian Mo decided to secretly nudge the plot along and help his brother whenever he could, saving him from the fire time and again.

To that end, he pretended to defect and join the legendary Demon Emperor, secretly going easy on his brother whenever they fought.

Just as his idiot brother had nearly finished leveling up, Lian Mo planned to slip away without a word.

But the arrogant, mercurial Demon Emperor, who looked down on everyone equally and called them “ants,” suddenly went mad. He spared no effort to drag Lian Mo back, insisting that Lian Mo had deceived him about his feelings.

Lian Mo: ???

Only then did Lian Mo realize that beneath the fearsome face lay feelings as scorching as magma.

And without even realizing it, he had sent himself step by step into the jaws of a beast.

1. Romance-focused, 1v1, happy ending, both leads' first love.

2. A naturally scary-faced, arrogant, love-struck, unhinged, dark-skinned Demon Emperor seme x a smooth-talking, good-at-pretending, black-hearted liar uke.

3. A clichéd style where “the seme falls first, then loves the uke so intensely he goes mad, loses control, and acts out” and “the liar gets caught.” There may be some mild coercion. This is my guilty pleasure, so please be gentle. I'm practicing writing romance.

4. The title, blurb, and character names may be polished later, but the premise won't change.

5. The cover uses a character design template; the characters may look different.

Blurb preview date: March 20, 2025 (archived)

Theme: Love is hard to control