Beers and Beards - Chapter 71Book 3: : Of Gods and Ex-Men

‘I want to travel to a place unknown to the many…’

It was a passing wish to the weary and tired Eugene and she’d not think it’d ever come to pass… but it did.

She opened her eyes and found she was sent to a novel-like world she wrote in passing and became Jin Anika, the scorned queen notorious for her ruthlessness and undeserving of her status.

Queen Jin only sought and desired to see the destruction of this world — the villainess who met her untimely and miserable end at the hands of her husband, Kasser, the reigning king of the Fourth Kingdom.

While struggling to survive in the unknown world, King Kasser visited Eugene and demanded that a contract be fulfilled and come to fruition.

“Three years ago, we made a deal.”

It turns out the Queen was under a contractual marriage with King Kasser. The ultimate price? To bear him a child.

“A… a child?”

“Yes, my successor.”

In a world where magic was abundant and supernatural creatures existed, Jin Valter lived as a fallen genius. Being the son of two A-Ranked Hunters, Jin had inherited his father’s keen eye for martial arts and his mother’s innate talent for magic. Alas, before Jin could reach his full potential, an Outer Demon attack left his soul crippled and his body weakened beyond repair.

Now, Jin lives out his days bound to the hospital bed with nothing but his brains to keep him company. Gone were the days when his peers hailed him as a genius as he struggled to even conjure a spell with his body falling apart.

However, it would all change when on the Night of the Blood Moon, a unique visitor paid him a visit…

The Scattered Arts, lost pages of manuals gathered from scattered archives from all across the world. Known also as the Old Arts, these are what remained from a vast collection of knowledge that was destroyed during the war that almost wiped out all of mankind. But we prevailed. Mankind rebuilt and reached for the stars.

Wang Xuan, a student of the Old Arts Research Department, had read about tales of individuals capable of inhuman feats, of practitioners ascending to the realm of immortality. But in an age of technological wonders, not many would believe in such tales. Only the truly desperate, and with the wealth and resources at their disposal, could even dream of unlocking the secrets behind these tales.

Corporate greed. This was how the research into the old arts started. But with new discoveries made in the New World, and the Old Arts declared obsolete in the way of the ‘New Arts’, the studies into the realm of the ancients is coming to an end.

Are the immortals real? Can mankind truly break its shackle of mortality and escape death? These are questions that Wang Xuan desperately sought to answer. He was determined to walk down the path of the Old Arts even as he reached for the stars beyond.

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[Mature Content:]Alaric was too close to Nicolette.Her mouth was just inches away from his.He could smell the lavender on her skin, the heat radiating from within her.But he held back, refusing to be carried away by her charm…“Mr. Allens…” she purred, and he looked down at her.Her eyes widened with desire, and he knew, in that moment, that if he wanted to kiss her, she would let him.The last thing he wanted was commitment. He knew that Nicolette didn’t want that either.But why was she this tempting?So willing?It was that willingness that confused him.She blinked, then swallowed as she pulled the jacket off her shoulders. His eyes lingered on her exposed neck.God.He just wanted to bury his mouth in that hollow spot.“Here,” Nicolette said calmly, extending the jacket to him.He took the jacket, his hand brushing hers just a second. She flinched, her face turning pink as she clutched the towel against her chest.His stomach flipped at the sight.If only that towel would give way to…Before he could stop himself, Alaric pressed his arousal against her stomach, pushing her against the wall, cornering her.She gasped at the sudden movement and for a moment, he lost his mind.“Cole…” he breathed, crushing himself against her.Her eyes gleamed with desire and a vulnerability that rocked him to his core.He would be foolish not to give in to this feeling.But he would also be a fool if he did.She had chosen to marry him.Not her boyfriend.And definitely not Lucian Crawford.Yet, he couldn't help it.She was only his for a year.But still…***************When her business and the gallery she inherited from her mother burn to the ground, Nicolette Voss is determined to rebuild—and get revenge on her father.She turned to her father’s rival, Alaric Allens, for an alliance.Alaric is willing to help, but on one condition—she must be his wife for a year.They called him Ruthless Alaric after an infamous incident 6 years ago. Alaric is back in town, and so are the crumbs of his past. But he is determined to change everything with a wife.He has his hidden agenda.She needs her revenge.But will this marriage between storm and steel survive the heat? And what will they do when deep secrets threatens to destroy them both?