Help! I'm the Plot Device: Just Here to Save the Heroes

Caught in 4K by the Moonlight

Imperial Palace

Outside, fireworks flared, splintering the night sky into shards of red and silver. Their reflections danced across the palace windows, painting the walls in fleeting, fractured light.

Zhao Yuanzhou stood by one such window, his white inner robe half-open, the sash loose at his waist. Dark strands of hair had escaped the tie, falling across his face. A bottle of wine dangled loosely from his fingers. He lifted it to his lips, but a tremor in his hand caused a few drops to spill, mixing with tears that streaked down his cheek and chin.

On the table behind him, his dinner sat untouched, steam long gone cold.

The door opened softly.

"Dianxia..." Ran Yi's voice broke the silence. He glanced at the neglected plates. "You haven't eaten since morning. Drinking on an empty stomach-"

Yuanzhou's gaze remained fixed on the dark night outside. Without turning, he wiped the tears from his jaw, as if it were only a spill, nothing more.

Ran Yi stepped closer. "Your health... you should-"

Another firework exploded, bright as lightning, and Yuanzhou flinched, closing his eyes against the flare. He turned slightly, settling on the window ledge, offering the bottle outward in a brittle, almost playful gesture.

"...It tastes good," he murmured, voice rough. A quiet invitation.

Ran Yi hesitated, then took the bottle and set it aside carefully, never breaking eye contact.

"The entire palace is watching," Ran Yi said softly. "The Emperor too."

Yuanzhou gave a humorless laugh. "Ran Yi... the dead are offered wine on memorial days. Tonight, it's mine. What's wrong with I'm having it?"

Ran Yi tilted his head, concern etching every line of his face.

Yuanzhou rose slowly, the weight of the years pressing down on him. "My father," he said, voice low, tight with old grief, "the mighty Emperor of this realm-killed me that day. Zhao Yuanzhou, who believed he could change his life... he died then."

He lifted the bottle, eyes hollow. "I died with him."

The wine poured onto the floor, dark liquid soaking the marble.

"To the weak, useless me... who couldn't protect those I loved," he whispered.

Ran Yi's hands shot forward, gripping the bottle before more could spill. "Dianxia, please... don't lose yourself like this."

Yuanzhou chuckled, empty and hollow. "Lose myself? Ran Yi... I lost everything that day. I am but a breathing shell now. If not for Yichen... I cannot let that happen to him."

The room fell into heavy silence, pressing down like lead. Ran Yi's eyes softened, cautious, waiting.

"Dianxia..."

Yuanzhou hummed-a faint, dark sound, more shadow than response.

Ran Yi tilted his head. "You... loved him?"

Yuanzhou didn't answer immediately. His lips curved into a small, haunted smile. "I never dared to."

His gaze fell to the pendant resting on the table. "He was the one I trusted most... trusted with my life. Trusted for Yichen. But-"

Ran Yi remained silent, letting the pause stretch, giving Yuanzhou the space to speak the words he had carried alone for so long.

"...I won't say I never did," he murmured, voice trembling slightly, a whisper that could have been mistaken for the wind. "He gave me everything that denied to me. A smile. A place. A bond."