MTL - The Path Toward Heaven - v8 Chapter 53 On the basketball court

The Principality of Atall lies between two great powers: the Kingdom of Allion to the west, and the Holy Dytiann Alliance to the east. Leo Attiel, the second-born prince, was sent to Allion as little more than a hostage, where he studied and trained in the military arts under a frontier general. And now, the times have reached a turning point.

Relations between Allion and Conscon Temple, a neutral land adjoining Atall, have worsened. Percy, sent from Atall as reinforcement; Camus, a warrior monk; and Kuon, a mercenary from a remote region, join forces to resist the looming threat of Allion’s army.

At the centre of the fighting, the three of them and Leo are about to have their fated encounter.

Tang Qiu was a substitute bride–forced to take her half-sister’s place and marry the young master of the Jiang family, a deformed cripple with less than 6 months left to live.

“Who would have thought that even a sickly whelp like Jiang Shaocheng would find himself a bride?”

“I hear that he’s practically on his deathbed and he’s only marrying the Fengs’ daughter to improve his lifespan.”

Tang Qiu ignored the whispers around her and focused on her husband-to-be, who coughed violently in his wheelchair. At the altar, after they had said their vows, she lifted her veil and knelt in front of Jiang Shaocheng, pressing a hesitant kiss to his lips.

The marriage contract was signed. No matter his physical deformities, he was now her husband.

She wasn’t afraid of the scars that marked his face, nor was she repulsed by him being confined to a wheelchair. Every morning, she made him breakfast, attended to his needs, and thought of little else beyond her duties as a wife.

“Young Master Jiang is a cripple who can’t get it up,” her best friend argued. “When he dies, you’ll still be untouched. You should set your sights higher.”

“A sickly invalid like Jiang Shaocheng can’t give you happiness,” her ex-boyfriend insisted. “I’ll wait for you.”

But Young Master Jiang only scoffed. “I have plenty of time left to be with her.”

Later in their marriage, Jiang Shaocheng wanted to enjoy his little wife in all ways–the press of her lips against his, the brush of skin on skin; the way a husband and wife were supposed to. But Tang Qiu refused him, blushing. “No, we can’t. The doctor says you can’t exert yourself.”

Jiang Shaocheng’s desire was surging through him, a heat in his core that demanded to be satiated. He cursed, I should have gotten rid of that doctor and the wheelchair long ago.

But he yearned to make love to his little wife, and so he revealed his true identity. In the blink of an eye, the deformed cripple transformed into a powerful businessman–tall, dark, and handsome. He quieted Tang Qiu’s protests, his body positioned over hers, his arms caging her as she lay on the bed. His voice was low when he asked, “What about now?”

“Now you see?” she shouted in a mix of annoyance and disappointment. “You can't outsmart Scrients! They're the most intelligent beings across the two realms.”“You're right,” I muttered, averting my gaze with a heavy sigh. “I made a mistake. I was too arrogant to think that a mere human like me could fool them.”—BOOM!!“Heik! Wh-What was that?”“Hmm? I'm not sure. Maybe you should go and ask the most intelligent beings across the two realms. Oh wait, you can't. I killed them all.”______My name is Samael Kaizer Theosbane.On the last day of high school, I got into a fight with a kid I used to bully.It was a stupid, pointless scuffle, and in the middle of it, I tripped and hit my head on a rock.That’s when the memories came flooding in - the memories of another life, of a different world.Suddenly, everything made a twisted kind of sense. I realized two things.First, I was in a game I used to play in my past life.Second, I was a villain. A villain!Not the cool and mysterious kind, either.No, my destiny was to be manipulated and die a dog's death!I was the worst type of cliché: an ungrateful, privileged, insufferable young master. The sort you'd find in those poorly written fantasy stories.The kind everyone hates — a snobby brat from a powerful noble family who thinks he owns the world just because he was born with a silver spoon lodged in his mouth.You know the type. The one the hero beats to a pulp to prove his worth.Yeah, I was that guy.And the hero? The hero was the kid I’d been bullying all this time. The same one I got into a fight with.He was the supposed savior of this damned world.A world teetering on the edge of destruction, beset by wars, calamities, and a grim future that only I knew.And at the end of it all, the final antagonist of the game, the undefeatable boss… the Spirit King, was waiting.But could I even make it to the end?Could I conquer a game where defeat was the only certainty?A game that was now my reality!“Ah, fuck it.”I had no idea if I could, but I sure as hell was going to try.Extorting extras, manipulating main characters, twisting the story to my advantage, stealing the hero’s cheat items, killing villains before they could become threats - nothing was beneath me.Would the main characters be affected? Who cares!Would the story change? Even better!All I cared about was me—my survival, my life, my choices.“I will live this life with no regrets.”…But as I soon discovered, fate was not easily changed.And the price of altering one's destiny was steep.

*Who would have thought a precious legitimate princess was forced to secretly marry a predator in the middle of the night when the silver moon shone bright in the middle of the starry sky?__“Your wench mother seduced my father and made you!”Consumed by rage after her half-sister insulted her mother, Reneira Dorient unleashed her secret power. Magic was taboo in the seven kingdoms, and those born with it must be burned. But she was a precious princess to the Kingdom.The royal family kept this secret with them and locked away her power, however, the King had a far darker plan: he forced her into a marriage with the evil prince of Thegara, a ruthless barbarian who had bathed in the blood of countless victims, as rumors said. Their union was the King’s strategy, she was a tool to win yet another war.The night the prince arrived to claim her, Reneira braced herself for the inevitable circumstances. However, nothing could have prepared her for the truth that this wasn’t just a marriage.Her new husband was a sweet torment, an immortal, god-like bully disguised in an impossibly beautiful human form with no rival. His every gaze felt like a punishment, and his sinful aura tempted her in ways she never expected. This god of lust refused to touch her or accept her as his true wife.Believing that her dignity was lost forever, she resigned herself to her fate, hoping to make a home in the hell she’d been thrown into. But fate, as it often did play, had other plans. She came to encounter a gorgeous yet wicked ex-mistress who didn't want her as his wife too and constantly attempted to push her out of the way...__“Don’t even think about seducing me by licking your lips like that, doe-eyes!” He breathed in her ear as he joined her in bed, shirtless, his muscular abdomen rippling with each movement.“I… I’m not doing it on purpose!” she stammered, her breath catching in her chest when he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her body against him.His mouth hovered near her ear. “I’m going to make you forget what happened today. My body is yours as compensation.”Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Rolling her eyes away, she tried not to meet his dangerously alluring gaze. “You said we’re not a real couple, and I’m not your true mate. What’s changed your mind?”He grinned widely, grabbing her chin and leaning in so close that she could feel his warm breath against her skin. He used his tempting aura to compel her to meet his gaze. Her treacherous heart didn’t defy him again, he could hear it racing.“That term of the treaty no longer applies. From now on, you’re truly my wife, Doe-eyes. Only mine.” He paused, studying her body’s response.“Shall I stop here?” he whispered, his breath sending a shiver down her spine.Once again, she surprised him. The answer was the opposite of what the arousal scent of her body suggested.“Yes. You should stop.”“So you’re going to play a naughty game, wife?”...