Ex-Husband CEO, Stop Messing Around! - Chapter 16: The Resentment of a Handsome Man

[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.

This is a story of an ordinary boy gaining unusual powers from his nightmares… It all started when Lin Sheng experienced something strange on what he thought was just another normal day. He begins to have recurring dreams that lead him on an incredible journey of discovery as he encounters spine-chilling monsters and elusive secrets.

- Description from Novelupdates

Philip never expected his new life to be so… complicated. When a tragic accident in the modern metropolis of Bortinto abruptly ends his struggle for survival, he wakes up as the scandal-ridden heir of a ducal house in a world where magic and science coexist. Any fantasies of an easy, heroic life vanish the moment he realizes that the estate that he is tasked with managing is drowning in debt, and his reputation has been shredded by rumors involving his predecessor’s broken engagement to the socialite Lady Rosetta—the granddaughter of a prince.Even as he scrambles to rebuild his estate’s fortunes—grappling with contaminated land, mounting debts, and shrewed industrialists—he unearths troubling secrets about the original Philip’s heartbreak and suicide. A dark, hidden force seems intent on wiping him out for an unknown reason. As conspiracies emerge linking Lady Rosetta’s departure to these shadowy machinations, Philip struggles to separate ally from adversary, not knowing why this power in high places is so bent on destroying him.Meanwhile, the realm teeters on the brink of monumental change. Technological and social revolutions collide with century-old magical traditions, and war drums thunder on the distant borders. Armed with his modern knowledge of finance—now fused with the kingdom’s burgeoning industrial innovations—Philip attempts to ride the trends and transform his estate into a beacon of prosperity and secure his heirship to the ducal title. Yet each small triumph only attracts more enemies.Tasked by the System with cultivating a supernatural entity while uncovering the real reason behind Lady Rosetta’s canceled engagement and the original Philip’s tragic end, he must also shield those he grows to care about from the looming threats. Will he harness the synergy of magic, technology, and commerce to steer his estate toward greatness, or will malevolent forces quash his second chance at life? Will his second chance at life end the same tragic way as his first?