You Broke an Apricot Blossom for a Guilty Man

Yan Bozhou was known as a child prodigy from a young age. At six, he entered the palace to serve as the Fourth Prince Xuan Tiao's study companion. At sixteen, he placed first in the imperial examinations, eventually rising to Vice Minister of Rites and enjoying unrivaled prestige.

But at twenty-six, he was exiled to a savage frontier after denouncing the king in court for murdering his father and usurping his brother's throne, accusing him of being unfit to rule. The Fourth Prince, now the new emperor, was enraged.

Only a few days into his exile, Yan Bozhou was summoned back.

Imprisoned in the Fourth Prince's palace.

Xuan Tiao couldn't understand.

They had grown up together, relying on each other to survive in a palace that devoured its inhabitants. Back then, Yan Bozhou had risked everything to save him time and again, nearly laying down his life for him.

He had murdered his father and usurped his brother's throne so Yan Bozhou could stop treading on thin ice in the bureaucracy and see his ambitions fulfilled. He had ruled with an iron fist so he could save the people far from the court and bring a smile to Yan Bozhou's face.

But after he became the emperor, the Son of Heaven, Yan Bozhou transformed into the man who hated him most, the man who wanted him dead more than anyone.

"I am not the ruler you wanted. So is the Crown Prince who fled north?" Xuan Tiao asked in confusion.

If only he had known, he wouldn't have settled for merely castrating that dog of an elder brother. He should have done more.

"I serve the court, not the emperor."

The man imprisoned in his cage remained unbowed, his eyes, once full of laughter, now dim, but still holding a lingering spark.

"Your Majesty, I beg you to kill me."

"Die?" Xuan Tiao laughed in fury.

He knelt before him and placed a withered apricot blossom in his palm, hooking a finger around his in a suggestive gesture. "From empress to palace attendant, every position in my harem is vacant. Do you truly not know why, my dear minister?"

"Bozhou wants to die. Is he in such a hurry to be buried with me right now...?"

"To become a temptress who throws the court into chaos and earns the condemnation of history?"

[Reader Advisory]

1. A genius court official x an autocratic emperor. The shou is three years older than the gong. Both are natives of the original setting: one is a feudal-minded younger brother, the other a control freak.

2. They met when they were young. Neither is a bad person, but their political views are deeply opposed, and they have betrayed each other. It will take a long time for their outlooks to change, and their personalities shift between the early and later parts of the story.

3. They are devoted to each other in body and soul from beginning to end, but they will stab each other in the back. They're an out-and-out combative couple, so readers with strong preferences should proceed with caution.

Theme: Stay true to yourself.