The Tyrant Regretted Forcing Himself on the Sickly Beauty

[Tender-Hearted Sickly Beauty ★ Unhinged, Devoted Emperor]

"I have someone I love with all my heart. I worry he'll fuss if I hold him in my hands, and fear he'll melt if I keep him in my mouth."

Han Ling is the third prince of the imperial palace, a figure of little importance.

His birth mother is a princess from a foreign kingdom sent over after its defeat. She has no influence or powerful allies, so anyone in the palace can slight him. The princes his age exclude and neglect him, while the servants treat him carelessly and look down on him.

As a little boy, he often sits alone beneath a tree in some remote corner of a corridor. He doesn't like to talk. With his eyes lowered, he sits in silence, lost in thought, his whole bearing cold and distant, without a trace of youthful energy.

Chu Qiuli is different. He's the regent's only child, raised with tender care by his elders. He's gentle and mild-tempered, with no arrogance toward anyone.

At a banquet in the palace one day, surrounded by noisy crowds and lively chatter, he grows stifled by the commotion and slips off alone to clear his head in a quiet corridor. There, he spots Han Ling sitting by himself in the shadows.

Everyone else instinctively avoids Han Ling, but Chu Qiuli walks straight over and sits down beside him, then gently starts a conversation.

"Why are you here all by yourself?"

Han Ling jerks his head up. Few people ever approach him of their own accord, and he stares blankly for a long time without answering.

Chu Qiuli isn't bothered. He chats with him at an unhurried pace, telling him about the flowers and plants that have just bloomed in the garden and amusing things happening outside. His voice is light and gentle.

For a brief moment, the boys simply chat together. There is no pity, no distance, just easy conversation and company.

In the noisy, glittering depths of the palace, everyone is prejudiced against Han Ling. Only Chu Qiuli offers him warmth without reservation.

A light suddenly flickers in the depths of Han Ling's silent, gloomy heart. Through countless lonely, unbearable days afterward, the image of that boy speaking gently beneath the corridor keeps returning to him.

Special Scene

Everyone knows the empress, Chu, loves red plum blossoms most. Red plums bloom across the palace garden, while muffled sobs drift from inside the room.

A black-feathered robe presses down on a pale body. In one hand is a fine, pointed brush stained with cinnabar.

A tiny mole sits in the hollow of Chu Qiuli's waist, alluring and delicate, inviting the imagination to run wild.

Han Ling happened to catch a glimpse of it years ago. He's always wanted a closer look, but never had the chance.

Now, he has all the time in the world to savor it.

Han Ling: My beloved consort, that mole of yours is so alluring. I wonder who you're trying to seduce?

* The emperor is mentally unstable.

* Every time Empress Chu wants to forgive the emperor, the emperor gets so suspicious and paranoid that he infuriates him.

* Lots of melodrama.

* Sweet overall. The bottom likes the top. Happy ending.

Theme: Failure is the beginning of success