- #1
A small graph of the plot's progress is included in one of the earliest author's notes: MC poisons ML –> MC takes advantage of the amnesiac ML -> crematorium for MC -> tragic event -> crematorium for ML -> HE
The biggest spoiler of them all were the chapter titles on jjwxc though, after seeing "Miscarriage" I was prepared for everything on the sadness front.
[collapse]What made this into a pleasant experience for me in the end was that based on the description I was expecting a chronological mess of events to suit the author's needs, but upon reading I was met with a well-structured timeline of several years leading up to the opening scene, and best of all, the MC IS an actual emperor with a working brain and the world DOESN'T revolve around ML! Usually, when I come across a general x emperor pairing mpreg novel the power is given into general gong's hands so firmly and emperor shou is relying on him so heavily that I'm left wondering just why was the shou made into an 'emperor' in the first place when he is nothing but a glorified f***toy.Although I want to write an independent one, at this point I need to mention Taigaike's review. Not being able to feel the described love of a character is not unfamiliar to me, but I did not have this problem with Lu Mingyu. Negating his feelings because he doesn't put Yan Yunge unconditionally before his country, doesn't trust ML blindly or is dissatisfied with some aspects of ML is simply putting him down due to him not being a moth-into-the-fire lovebrain, and just plain ignoring the base of their relationship...Even though there are feelings involved, first and foremost the leads are in a relationship of mutual use, with a lack of trust on BOTH sides.Below is an explanation of the main leads relationship containing minor spoilers of the Yan Party.SpoilerLu Mingyu is an unfavored prince who had to start to playing the game otherwise he would have been played to death. After his third brother's passing he 'lucked out' to earn the backing of the General's Mansion since he seemed easy to handle with no support and had the added bonus of prior involvement with Yan Yunge. What's important for the conflict is that he also resolved to be a proper emperor responsible for his people since he had to become one. Meanwhile, the General's Mansion is a rebellious party with the clear goal of grabbing the rule of the country and Yan Yunge, the current General Fuyuan, is loyal to the family cause. MC initially actually sees the Yan family's intentions quite well and ML prior to his wake-up call is a scum who treats MC without the basic respect given to a human being – not unlike everyone else in the General's Mansion who do so because they feel he is beneath them.
In the book Lu Mingyu once laments that he would have been willing to become a fatuous emperor for Yan Yunge if only the man treated him nice. I can understand that power taken and firmly grasped in your hand is secure and it's probably humiliating for a war-hero general to play the role of a seductress but it really made me question just who was plotting the power grab of the Yan Party – a question I didn't receive an answer for – because they were straight going for treason and a violent takeover while not even willing to entertain the peaceful option of using Yan Yunge as a beauty trap longterm. This is just my humble opinion, but if he was so looked down upon and dismissed as a person it would have been plain su*cide for MC to put ML before everything else as Taigaike says he should have. All the more so as he was well aware of the disregard toward himself.
[collapse]For me this is one of those pairings where the ML will never be able to make up for all the pain and suffering he caused the MC, and he did end up paying his own dues, nonetheless, I'm happy with how things turned out in the end, because they managed to work out their issues and the outcome was something they both wanted and made them happy.Rating: Disregarding some minor flaws, I'll give the main story 5 stars. The site where I read the raws didn't have the extras, and I don't plan on checking them out in the future either as I'm afraid they will turn the story something more common of its trope.
