The Shadow Guard is also the White Moonlight [Rebirth]

When Fu Nian first met Chu Zhaoyi, the late emperor was still alive, and Chu Zhaoyi was still a Wangye. But at their first meeting, Fu Nian experienced the ferocity of this future ruler. A cacophony rang in his mind, and as the metallic tang of blood flowed along his numbed skin, Fu Nian heard that devilish voice tell him, “Thunder and rain, all are the grace of a ruler. Just a bit of thunder, and you’re reduced to such a state.” Later, he would hear these words again, but it would be a long time later. “Thunder and rain, all are the grace of a ruler,” Chu Zhaoyi pronounced deliberately by Fu Nian’s ear. With the remnants of his strength, Fu Nian struggled to suppress a sob, “Your Majesty, such thunder and rain, this humble subject… truly doesn’t deserve.” Sensing his impending fate, he believed that the heart-connecting gu inside him was planted by a pitiable scapegoat, ordered by the ruler. Not wanting to implicate innocent people, he forcefully removed the gu from his heart, gasping his last breath only after handing it to the Imperial Guards. After death, Fu Nian realized that the one who had planted the heart-connecting gu wasn’t anyone else, but Chu Zhaoyi, the one above ten thousand others. He thought of Chu Zhaoyi as heartless and merciless, someone who didn’t trust him, let alone love him. Only in death did Fu Nian know that his master, who had plucked him from the pile of corpses and nurtured him, didn’t treat him as a disposable pawn, but genuinely cared for him. After Fu Nian’s death, his master went madly searching for medicine, going so far as to use living people as ingredients, all to save Fu Nian’s life. His Senior Brother, too, surprised him. Fu Nian had thought that their last meeting before parting ways was the night his Senior Brother gifted him a sword. Little did he expect that the one keeping their childhood sword manuals was his Senior Brother, and the one keeping the birthday gift he sent was also his Senior Brother. And after his death… it was his Senior Brother who clung to the jar containing the heart-connecting gu that he had dug out, crying uncontrollably. But what surprised Fu Nian the most was Chu Zhaoyi. He never thought that Chu Zhaoyi, whom he believed never truly loved him. Would, after his death, hold onto his already stiffened body, gently place the phoenix crown and red wedding robes he never dared dream of onto him, kiss him devoutly over and over again, and even, like they did in their lifetime, sleep side by side through the night. Awakening from a deep slumber, Fu Nian discovers a chance to rectify all the regrets of his previous life. Everything is still within reach. With a cold exterior but a warm heart, a ruthless monarch finds himself entangled with a stunningly beautiful and seemingly insane individual who is devoted and submissive to only one person, while showing no mercy as the commander of a ruthless group of shadow guards. The timeline progresses linearly, with no time-traveling involved; the protagonist’s body remains his own throughout.