Adopting and Raising the Male Lead and the Villain - Chapter 32 - Secretly Measuring Up (3)

[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.

When Zen was just five, his kingdom fell in flames. His people vanished into dust. His parents - his world - were taken by death. Left behind with nothing but silence, the young prince was forgotten by history. But his story… was only just beginning.He walks alone at first. Weak. Broken. Powerless.But the fire in his heart never died.He seeks strength enough to tear through the heavens, enough to break the chains of fate itself. Not just to see the faces of his lost parents once more… but to take revenge on the ones who destroyed everything.But can strength truly reach beyond death?… or will it only turn him into something worse?This is not just the story of a fallen prince.This is the legend of The One Who Walks Beyond the End.

{MATURE— DARK ROMANCE, MENTION OF SA ON AND OFF SCREEN, BULLY, ABUSE}Read the warning before clicking to read, thank you.In a world ruled by wolves, I am the mistake that breathes.Well, my name is Lisa and I’m twenty one years old.I am the girl with no wolf. No rank. No name worth remembering. Just a human girl trapped in a pack that never wanted me. Scrubbing floors, serving tables, surviving insults , I’ve learned to stay invisible. Until the night of the coronation.Until them.Three brothers. Three Alphas. Fated by blood. Feared by all.And somehow, fated… to me?I didn’t ask for the bond. I didn’t ask for the fire in their eyes when they looked at me, or the hate that followed. I was never meant to belong to anyone, much less them. But fate is cruel, and the Moon has secrets she’s just begun to whisper.You think I will still be alive to tell the story

Struck down amid the battle, the Hero and Demon King meet their demise. As their souls linger on the edge of the afterlife, a mysterious force intervenes, merging their fragmented souls together with a new being. Rusty, the living armor, now affected by their memories and presence, embarks on his own quest. Will he seek revenge on those who betrayed the hero, or will he fulfill the desires of the fallen demon king? or instead, forge his own path?