Crown Prince Li Yuren was the incarnation of the empire's ideal, regal beauty wrapped in sharp intellect, draped in brocade robes embroidered with celestial dragons. When he moved, the palace air followed. His silver robes shimmered like moonlight, his cold expression a mask that none could pierce. None, except one.

His eyes lingered on his royal knight. In the garden beneath blooming plum trees, moonlight dusting the petals white, Yuren dared to risk it all.

"Don't look away," he murmured, voice trembling like a flute's dying note. He reached out, fingers brushing the knight's cheek. "If I say it only once... promise me you'll remember it forever. I love you."

From then on, their love became a secret flame hidden beneath layers of duty and silk. But fire, even hidden, burns.

One sultry night, their restraint shattered. The prince's chambers reeked of sandalwood and forbidden want. The doors were shut tight, yet passion spilled through the cracks. Gasps, whimpers, the rustle of silk hitting the floor.

Yuren's hands roamed feverishly, lips pressed to the knight's neck as he breathed between kisses, "Say nothing. Just... stay." His voice cracked, desperation coating every word. Their bodies entwined, tangled in silk sheets and trembling flesh. It wasn't just lust. It was defiance against a world that would never understand.

Yuren pinned the knight beneath him, his weight pressing firm against the knight’s hips as his black hair spilled down like silk curtains around their flushed faces. His eyes dark with desire, searched the knight’s expression for permission, for need. And when the knight pulled him down for a kiss, needy and full of trust, Yuren lost the last of his self-control.

"You're mine tonight," he whispered hotly, breath brushing the knight’s ear. "Every part of you."

Their bodies collided with fervent hunger. Yuren guided himself slowly in, fingers intertwined with the knight's above their heads, foreheads pressed together as gasps turned into strangled moans.

"So tight... gods, you feel too good..." Yuren groaned, his hips rolling forward, slow and deep.

The knight arched beneath him, mouth open in silent cries as each thrust forced them to clutch harder. Yuren gritted his teeth, sweat rolling down his back, his pace increasing with every hit of resistance and tremble.

"I want to see you fall apart under me," he growled against the knight’s lips. "Only I get to see you like this."

The bed rocked beneath them, sheets soaked with sweat, their rhythm primal and unrelenting. Yuren’s lips latched onto the knight’s throat, biting down hard enough to leave a mark. Proof of who he belonged to, even if only in secret.

"I love you," he gasped, breath hitching. "I love you, I'll burn the world if they ever take you from me."

Their climax came crashing like a tidal wave, loud, shaking, blinding. Yuren collapsed onto the knight, bodies trembling, breaths ragged. The candles burned low, and so did their restraint. Neither of them noticed the shadow just outside the door.

Minister Li Shenzhao, Yuren's uncle, stood still as stone, jaw clenched.

The very next morning, Yuren stood trial beneath the Imperial Pavilion.

"You’ve brought shame upon the dragon’s blood," his uncle spat, eyes blazing. "To lie with a man of low rank without title, without marriage. do you think the heavens turn a blind eye to such filth?"

The Empress turned her face in sorrow. The Emperor remained silent.

"I do not hide what I am," Yuren said calmly. His eyes were locked on the throne. "And if love is filth, then let me drown in it."

The sentence was swift: Death by poisoned blade.

He did not plead. As the blade pierced his heart, he looked skyward. "Forgive me," he whispered to no one. "I wasn't strong enough to keep you safe."

But the afterlife offered no peace. Yuren's spirit hovered, unseen, over the broken kingdom. He watched as his knight was chained, whipped, cursed by whispers from the same mouths that once praised him.

"He murdered the minister!" a noble cried. "And the temple monk too!" another added. "Witchcraft! Possession!" the High Priest bellowed.

The pyre was built tall. They pierced his chest with a rusted stake. And then they set him alight. Yuren screamed. But no one heard the dead.

The sky turned red that night. The moon bled into the sea. From within the jade tomb, Yuren’s corpse stirred. He rose, body untouched, yet changed. His eyes glowed with otherworldly fire. The wind howled around him as shadows gathered beneath his feet.

"You took him from me," he growled, stepping barefoot over shattered palace tiles. "So I will take everything from you."

He called down storms of flame. Rivers turned to black blood. Cities collapsed under thunder and ash. He hunted each noble who raised a hand against his knight.

And yet...

When he arrived at the square where the pyre once stood, his fury halted.

Ash. Only ash.

He knelt, trembling. His hand touched the scorched earth, and for the first time since his death, he broke. "Why did I let them touch you...?" he whispered. "Why wasn't I there...?"

Lightning flashed. Rain, at last, fell. Not fire. Not wrath. But cleansing, cold rain. The embers died out in seconds.

From the heavens, Yuren descended slowly. His form remained human, regal, untouched by decay. But something had shifted. A darkness pulsed inside him. He was no longer of this world. A being born of wrath and sorrow.

He knelt beside his knight's broken body. Charred, torn but not beyond his touch.

"I am sin now," he whispered, voice heavy. "But if I can give you breath... let that be my only virtue."

He placed his hand over the torn chest. Light flickered. Symbols danced over his fingertips, ancient, forbidden. The ground pulsed.

And slowly, a heartbeat.

"Come back to me," he choked, lips trembling. "Come back... Please..."

The wounds closed. Skin knit. Joints realigned. The knight's chest rose, a gasp, a breath, a miracle. Yuren exhaled, forehead touching the knight's.

"Even as a monster," he whispered, smiling through tears, "I will never leave your side again."

And they stayed there, beneath the rain. The last souls in a ruined empire, bound by death, resurrected by love.