The Stonehearted Knight - Chapter 53: Cherry on top

Welcome to Hell’s Game.[Entering instance: Bloody Restaurant][The position you applied for: Delivery Person][Your customers include: a fat otaku emitting a corpse stench, a maid who bursts at the slightest disagreement...][Your colleagues include: A boss who's too pretty to be human, A cow or a horse in the literal sense, a man-eating tree that swears in French...]Facing these incredible characters, Liu Zheng, who wanted to be a decent person, had no choice but to give up on humanity.

Nora is shattered a month before her wedding when she uncovers her fiancé's deceitful affair. As she manages this betrayal, she discovers a deep ploy to hinder her from claiming her rightful inheritance. Devastated but determined, Nora takes a daring step to regain control of her life. Enter Demetri 'The Demon' to those who know him, a formidable man barely known to her, who offers her protection and support in return for a contract marriage to satisfy him. In a twist of fate, Nora marries Demetri to claim her inheritance and fight those who plotted against her. But as she battles her own family and Demetri's many rivals, will she be able to keep from falling for the man known to crush people beneath his booted heel.Excerpt:She had forgotten that the man was intimidating and directly challenged him.Rather than speaking, Demetri rose from his seat and approached her deliberately. Although it was a mere few steps, time seemed to stretch for Nora. When he was almost within touching distance, his hand gently landed on her knee, moving it sideways. His touch moved with a hint of a caress, and he stepped between her open legs. Nora sat there in frozen silence, her eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights.Catching her chin between his fingers, he tilted her face upwards and spoke unhurriedly,“ You are my wife.”She nodded her head slowly in affirmation while his thumb slowly traced her lip. “I have given you time to gather your emotions.”Another nod. Nora's nervousness made her lick her lips, acutely aware of his intense gaze fixed upon them.“Your reason for the marriage was to secure your inheritance and get away from under your mother's thumb.”“Yes...” Nora whispered in confusion. Her confusion was not about his statement but about the bewildering sensations coursing through her. What was happening with her?”It's time for you to fulfil your end of the contract, yes?“ He continued.”Yes,“ Nora whispered breathlessly. Why was she breathless? Had the oxygen level in the house dropped? Was the air suddenly thinning?Abruptly, his hand left her face, and she watched as he drew closer. It was then that Nora comprehended what was unfolding. All those tantalizing, heart-pounding kisses she had read about in novels were about to possibly become her reality.But the anticipated kiss didn't happen. Instead, he paused near her and commanded, ”Kiss me.“

A Consort seeks prosperity.A Shepherd cloaked in yellow wages war.A Prosthesis-wielder cries out for retribution.Shadows tremble in the depths, encompassed worlds obscuring the many dangerous secrets of history. Might they be unraveled, all ways of life would be threatened. But to climb higher requires risks, to seek the light requires a Gambit of Lifetimes.Only when one determines themselves capable of risking it all, can all prosper.

Han Yoona, reincarnated into the novel 'The Golden Heir' as the heroine of the novel and she lived her new life without complaints… until she’s killed.Her story should have ended there, but Yoona’s soul wakes up in the body of Luzia de Cazadores, the daughter of the kingdom’s most feared villain, Duke Ramiro de Cazadores.Yoona expects a cold, calculating tyrant. What she gets instead is something entirely different.“The author left out crucial details. Too many.” Yoona thinks, trying to figure out how he became the feared villain of the kingdom.As she gets to know Ramiro, she begins to realize that everything she thought she knew about Ramiro might not have been the full story.“Alright then, forget the plot or trying to rewrite everything. I’ll just grant the original Luzia's wish…”But with rival nobles plotting against them and the kingdom still fearing Ramiro’s so-called villainy, To protect her new family and escape the traps of a story she thought she knew, Yoona must outwit it to prevent the original story's outcome.