Golden Stage - Chapter 1: wedge

Leon Thorne was the disgrace of his house, overweight, softspoken, and dismissed as a failure before he ever picked up a sword. Mocked during the Awakening and branded an F-rank, he was expected to fade quietly from the halls of power.But he didn’t.Because this wasn’t his first life.In another timeline, Leon watched House Thorne fall, shamed, scattered and erased from history. Powerless to stop it then, he’s been given one chance to rewrite it now.Stripped of excuses and reshaped by hardship, Leon claws his way forward—through blood, sweat and silence. Now, leaner and sharper, he enters an academy where only strength speaks and legacy decides your worth.But Leon carries no crest. No backing. Just scars, a sword, and the will to shatter fate itself.He’s not looking to be acknowledged or praised.He’s going to rewrite everything.NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES.

Sixty Years ago, one middle aged man brought a Qilin that looked like a pug and a mandarin duck that looked exactly like a duck, walking into the Imperial City of the Central Plains for the first time.

“The harder I try to hate you, the deeper I fall for you.”

His presence irked her to the core, but whenever he got out of her sight, she missed him?!

….

A tyrant, known to be the city’s infamous playboy.

As an executive assistant, she was forced to work under him by the most cruel twist of fate.

If losing her job overnight was a nightmare, then working under a boss like Desmond Fort was hell. He was an arrogant narcissist with an ego bigger than the whole of Imperium city, but that was not what angered her the most.

The most infuriating fact was that despite his constant assholery, her heart seemed to stupidly skip a beat every time he gazed at her with those devilishly charming eyes.

She knew she was making a mistake but that didn't stop her from sinking deeper and deeper into his charm.

All she wanted now was to leave! But leaving hell was not nearly as easy as getting in.

When the admissions office of Witch Academy called, I was stunned—I had been accepted into a school I never imagined I could touch.Yes, I am a boy and it is an all-girls’ academy, but they did not mind, so I saw no reason to object. I had applied secretly, without telling my family, just to take a chance.But as soon as those striking seniors greeted us newcomers—pressing every boy against the wall with a knowing smile—I realized things were about to spin out of control.“Oh, come now, you sweet little freshman,” one of them said smoothly, her voice full of mischief. “Don’t make this difficult for me, your big sis. Swallow this core and transform into a witch like me, alright?”She held the glowing orb before us, half-threatening, half-teasing, almost inviting the new boys to react. It was clear she enjoyed it—the blend of fear and resistance in their expressions. Our unease seemed to be her personal amusement.After all, they only had this opportunity once a year.