#protective ml

One’s a feared, battle-scarred general with legs that no longer carry him to war. The other’s a silver-tongued imperial court lackey with a reputation for being ruthless, immoral, and impossible to trust.

They’ve spent years glaring at each other across the political chessboard until the emperor decides the best way to keep the peace is to chain them together in marriage.

Now it’s one roof, two stubborn men, and a slow-burn transformation from “I’d rather die than like you” to “I will gut anyone who looks at you wrong.”

Golden Stage: where forced marriage meets political intrigue, and mutual hostility turns into blind faith.

If you like your historical BL with palace politics, military prestige, and a romance that grows out of mutual respect rather than insta-love, Golden Stage is a feast.

The Setup: Fu Shen, the empire’s war hero, comes home from the battlefield injured and politically vulnerable. Yan Xiaohan, the emperor’s sharp-tongued enforcer, is ordered to marry him. They’ve always been enemies, or so they think.

The Vibe: The first act is all wary banter and “I’m watching you” tension. But instead of dragging out misunderstandings, they talk. They negotiate trust like seasoned diplomats, and when they decide they’re on the same side, it’s game over for anyone who stands against them.

The Romance: This is slow-burn devotion at its finest. The chemistry is ridiculous. The kind where a hand on the shoulder feels hotter than a kiss. There’s no explicit smut, but the emotional intimacy and the way they look at each other could melt steel.

Why It Works:

Strong × strong dynamic with neither man being a pushover.

Political intrigue that actually matters to the plot.

A relationship arc that goes from mutual suspicion to “I trust you with my life” without skipping steps.

Side characters and court drama that add texture without stealing the spotlight.

An then man-handled and threatened Min-hwan! 👀 😳 🔥

He just wanted a quiet life. Instead, he got a knife-wielding girl calling him “brother,” a pack of enemies underestimating him, and one rabid dog of a man who bites everyone but him.

Yao Qi is a gentle, black-bellied Dom who’s done playing nice. When his fiercely loyal, dangerously unhinged sub is taken from him, he doesn’t just go looking. He claws his way to the top of the food chain to get him back.

Gentle? Yes. Patient? Occasionally. Possessive? Absolutely. This is the story of taming a rabid dog… and then unleashing him on the world.

This novel is basically, “What if the calm, polite shopkeeper was actually a strategic apex predator, and his boyfriend was a feral wolf who only rolls over for him?”

Yao Qi starts as the guy you think you can push around, until you realize he’s been quietly setting traps for you since chapter one. His “rabid dog,” Lin, is all teeth and territorial growls, but the second Yao Qi says “sit,” he’s the most obedient creature alive. The dynamic is strong × strong, but with that delicious imbalance where one is the leash-holder and the other is the weapon.

The romance? Equal parts knife-to-throat tension and domestic softness. They’ll be plotting someone’s downfall in one scene and sharing quiet, grounding moments in the next. And yes, there’s heat, though it's not gratuitous, but enough to make you sit up straighter when it happens.

The plot throws in gang politics, betrayal, and “oh no you didn’t” moments that make you want to fist-pump when the payback lands. It’s not all sunshine, and there are knives (literal and emotional), but the ride-or-die devotion is so strong you’ll forgive every scar they leave on each other and everyone else.