Nah girl ur so right. I crave BL where the main plot isn't always siderailed by or revolves around sex all the time. Especially one with darker themes like this one seems.
This is a aspect where I think manhua does better.
The bl are literally just like any other stories with a b or even c plot romance for the protagonist.
REALLLL slightly unrelated but i cried real tears when i found Death Delayed Because of the Will bc it was the 1st time i’ve seen a dungeon monster-hunter manhwa that was both BL and the mc was actually the cool OP one like the straight ones, and not like just a support to the ml like the BLs need more stories that are like shounen but gay
Honestly, if you told me this was a het Shonen Manhwa I would've believed you! This is the type of BL that I have always been longing forrrr! Like literally normal Shonen where the couple are just average Shonen characters who just happen to be attracted to each other without their attraction being the main and only selling point for the story, cuz even with the cool historical and action BL they put too much emphasis on the fact that it's BL they forget all other aspects to the story, to the point that some Bromance Shonen do a better job in portraying a normal same sex relationship than most of the BL out there. This is giant step for human kind! (Forgive my cringe I'm just super excited)