Wildness and Masks - Chapter 9 – Black Market

[COMPLETE] Can a royal Romeo and Juliet find their happy ending?

Ayleth, Princess of Zenithra, is secretly trained in hand-to-hand combat, and collects swear words she doesn't know how to use. During the Festival of Peace, in which every royal son on the continent will be at the castle for a month, she is instructed by her parents to find a husband. Yet, Ayleth has never even been kissed—until the very first ball, when she meets the man in the Lion mask.

Etan is a seasoned warrior, and the Prince of Summitras. He attends the Festival hoping to find a powerful wife who will help him conquer the dark sorcery of their bloodsworn enemies, the Kingdom of Zenithra. But at the very first ball, he discovers the masked woman who captures his heart is the Heir to the evil empire.

Ayleth and Etan face an impossible battle. Will their love survive? Or will their parents' dark dealings keep them apart forever?

[Mature content. No sexual violence.]

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“You…” She stepped back. Then back again, her mouth dropped open. “You… You cannot be…”

“I am,” Etan said, and his hair raked back as he pushed his mask off his handsome face. So handsome her heart raced.

His hair was ebony black, his skin a warm brown that threatened to fade in in the winter months. He stared at her with glittering green eyes, over high cheekbones and a noble nose, his jaw tight and shadowed this late in the day. His chin was high over the pillar of his neck that she’d just touched with its hard lines and steel strength, so different to her own. And his chest... She gasped and covered her eyes. She’d humiliated herself revealing her stupid, childish curiosity.

“No, Ayleth. This changes nothing.”

“How can you say that? It changes everything!” She was horrified to realize she was crying.

“Ayleth, please.” His voice cracked on the plea and she stared at him, shoving her mask up and off, despite how it would pull her hair out of the beautiful twist the maid had managed for her.

His eyes locked on hers and she couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe.

She had met her One. And he was the son of her bloodsworn enemy.

She stared at him as he stepped forward again, offering both hands, palm up. “Touch me,” he whispered. “Hold my hands. This is real, Ayleth. I don’t know how it happened, but this is real. Please don’t deny it.”

She couldn’t resist. She raised a trembling hand to his cheek, letting her palm catch on the scruff of his jaw. He blew out a breath and put his hand over hers, and that jolt that happened whenever they touched shivered through her again.

“Please, Ayleth.”

“I cannot deny it,” she whispered.

Imagine being murdered on your way home to your girlfriend, only to have your soul stolen and handed over to the Demon King as an offering for goods. Could it get any worse?This is the story of a man cursed with a skeleton body, now working alongside the Demon King to unravel the mystery of his new existence. As he navigates this dark new world, he discovers the twelve universes that govern humanity, encountering both allies and enemies along the way.Struggling to regain his humanity, he must master his newfound powers and survive the dangerous politics of the 12 universes. Can he uncover the truth behind his transformation and reclaim his soul, or will he fall to the darkness threatening to consume him?

The female protagonist transmigrated into a wretched, lazy, and gluttonous villainess in a farming family!Her notorious reputation, fostered by her overly pampering mother, alienated the entire family. See how Jinhua cleanses her name, becoming diligent, brave, and the applauded golden girl everyone praises.With a wretched mother, a sick father, a stepsister, four brothers, and a bunch of nephews, all dead broke and needing support, poor and infighting, what to do?No worries, with the System in hand, I have the world!Harmonize the family, build wealth and prosper.The belle of the villages for miles around, Jinhua the beauty!……Mountain man, what was it you said before? You'd rather die than marry her, and even one more glance would shorten your life?A certain mountain man: No, no, no, wife, you must have heard wrong! I said I'd rather die than not take another glance, and I'd shorten my lifespan just to marry you.Hmph, that's more like it!!

In short, MC inadvertently created a world, but as the creator of the world, he did not know the world at all. He should have lived here like a fish in the sea with some plug-ins that MCs always have. But now he is even stumped by the bugs in the instant world. Luckily, in this world he has found his shadow guard, or his lover? So the daily adventure is getting not so boring…

- Description from Novelupdates