Dual Cultivation - Chapter 935: Jaded Garden

I’m an imperial uncle; his imperial majesty’s uncle.

Once, someone with nothing better to do took a comprehensive survey of the current dynasty, and summed up the imperial court’s three great cancers.

Wang Qin leads in corruption; the treasury is never full.

Yun Tang favours a few, forming cabals; leading to corruption in our politics.

Prince Huai plays with power, and serves as the head of a hundred poisons — thus causing instability to the throne.

When they talk about the most venomous of vipers, the wicked one who plays with power, the biggest cancer of them all, they’re talking about me: this insignificant prince, Prince Huai, Chengjun.

I can only say that I feel rather hapless in the face of these theories.

In truth, I have been ever dutiful, ever devoted, devoid of intention to monopolise power, and possess even less of a heart to covet the throne. In the entire imperial court, I dare say there is no loyal subject more loyal than I.

But, most tragically, in all the realm, the matter of my being a loyal subject is something that not many would believe.

- Description from Novelupdates

Avery Carter discovered that she wasn't her parents' biological child.After living with them for so many years, she discovered she was separated from her twin sister, during a fire at the hospital where they were born. In the chaos, the twins were switched, and she was sent home with the wrong family.She was a fake heiress.When their real daughter returned, she was abandoned and she was sent away to her barren birthplace.After returning to her real family, many people expect her to fall from grace, but she surprises everyone by lifting her biological family out of poverty.Rising to the upper class, she befriends celebrities and engages in battles of wits and courage with bitches and jerks.Now the most important thing for her is to draw a clear line with this dangerous billionaire, Alexander Moran, a businessman who arrived in the City on a mission to secure a deal with V Group and find medical help for his sister. However, meeting Avery turns his attention to her. He is fascinated by her strength and the way she handles everything thrown her way. The more he interacts with her, the deeper his admiration grows.What starts as a business venture soon takes a personal turn. Alexander is not only impressed by Avery’s professional abilities but also her charm. As they get closer, he finds himself wanting more than just a business deal – he wants to win her heart too.

After being torn from the only life she knew, 16-year-old Margo is forced into a new home with strangers who call themselves her parents. Haunted by memories of her past and consumed by feelings of isolation, she struggles to adapt to her unfamiliar surroundings. School offers little relief—until she meets Lucien, a mysterious boy who appears just when she needs a friend the most.Gabriel is everything Margo needs: kind, attentive, and always ready to whisk her away from her troubles. Each night, he invites her to secret places—an abandoned playground, a fog-choked garden, a crumbling train station at the edge of town—each more unsettling than the last. Yet with every chilling rendezvous, Margo feels more alive... more seen.But something isn’t right. Gabriel never comes to school during the day. Her adoptive parents never see him. And when they catch her talking to thin air, their concern deepens into fear. They say Gabriel isn't real—that he’s a figment of her imagination. Margo wants to believe them, but Gabriel feels real. More real than anything else in her life.As the nights grow colder and more twisted, Gabriel’s true nature begins to surface. Shadows move where they shouldn’t. Time warps in his presence. And the places they visit seem to echo with whispers from another world. Margo is forced to ask herself: Who—or what—is Gabriel? Why does he only want her? And what will happen on the final night he asks her to come with him?As the line between reality and delusion begins to crumble, Margo must make an impossible choice: stay in a world where she feels loved, or return to one that barely feels real.But one thing is certain—some friendships never let go.