Your Highness, Your Days Are Numbered

The little prince Jiang Qingtu has been spoiled for eighteen years, spending his days doing nothing worthwhile. Sent to suppress bandits, he is ambushed and ends up in a village, where a tall, taciturn man finds him and takes him home.

The man is quiet, but unexpectedly handsome. Years of farm work have made him tall and strong, his skin several shades darker than Jiang Qingtu's, and his fingers rough. When they brush against Jiang Qingtu's delicate arm, Jiang Qingtu kicks him hard. "Don't touch me!"

Jiang Qingtu has lived a pampered life since childhood and finds fault with everything. His skin is so delicate it seems made of soft snow, flushing at the slightest touch. The man has never seen anyone so beautiful, and carefully looks after the injured Jiang Qingtu, secretly treating him like his wife.

Jiang Qingtu is spoiled and proud. Seeing the dark undercurrent in the man's eyes, he curses him under his breath. His gaze sweeps over the man's muscular arms and beastlike presence, yet he still finds himself drawn to him.

Before long, they end up in bed together.

By the time his subordinates find him, Jiang Qingtu has come to his senses. He leaves behind a hundred taels of gold and quietly departs.

He thinks the matter is over. How could a hunter from some remote village ever meet an imperial noble again?

But not long afterward, chaos breaks out in the palace. Rebels storm the imperial city, leaving corpses everywhere.

Jiang Qingtu shields his mother consort. Blood stains his beautiful face, and through his blurred vision, he sees a tall figure on horseback slowly stop beside him.

The next moment, the man on horseback leans down and lifts Jiang Qingtu's chin with his riding crop, a cold smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"Your Highness, have we met before?"

Jiang Qingtu: ...

I'm so screwed!

I'm going to die!

-

The man who rushed a thousand miles to save the emperor becomes one of the emperor's most favored officials. Everyone racks their brains trying to curry favor with him. Only Jiang Qingtu avoids him as if he were a venomous snake. Whenever he sees the man's inscrutable gaze fixed on him, his scalp tingles.

Thinking about how he used to bully the man, Jiang Qingtu is terrified of what will happen if his identity is discovered. He has no choice but to pretend to be ill and avoid everyone, always wearing a veiled hat and claiming to look haggard from sickness.

At last, Jiang Qingtu finds his chance and promptly fakes his death.

-

But he doesn't get far before he's caught.

The man grips his snowy-white ankle and forcefully pulls him close, then fastens a chain forged from that hundred taels of gold around it. He strokes it and makes Jiang Qingtu step on him.

"Didn't you love stepping on me?"

"Where do you think you're going now?"

-

Pei Du falls off a cliff while poisoned and loses his memory, acting on instinct in a daze.

Then one day, he finds a dirty little pearl that has fallen from the sky.

A pampered, coquettish, noble little beauty of a prince as the bottom x a tall, handsome top who's a loyal dog on the surface, with overwhelming possessiveness and the dark side of a big wolfdog

Older top, age gap of six years, differences in build and skin tone, top who's love-struck and devoted to his wife

*Both top and bottom are a little unhinged, and they share a mutual obsession. The bottom is a little brat, and the top is a stalker.

*Romance-focused, with a 3:7 plot-to-romance ratio. Mainly about falling in love. Bottom-focused, proceed with caution!

*Written as a return to writing. The style is intended to be clear and accessible, not archaic.

*An alternate setting loosely modeled on the Ming dynasty. The political scheming isn't very sophisticated; everything serves the main characters.

*Readers with strong preferences about character dynamics should proceed with caution.

May change at any time before the story begins.

Theme: Be honest