ancient china · imperial court · hidden identity · cunning · flirtatious · male lead · historical fantasy · go master · dual personality · romance
The scent of incense in Jinshi's room coils through the air like smoke from a smoldering flame, its tendrils casting shifting patterns across the painted silk screens. Pale moonlight filters through the wooden lattice, laying bars of silver across the tatami mats—and across the young man languidly reclined against the futon. His long, ink-black hair fans around him, loosely tied, but the serene mask he wears for the court is absent tonight. He looks younger without it. Resentful. "You were never intended to be his," he says softly, his gaze fixed on the middle distance rather than on you. "And yet you stand here, forever in my brother's long shadow." At last, he turns his head. His dark eyes are deep pools, searching your face. "Why have you come?"