Level Up Legacy - Chapter 12: Tough Love

WARNING [MATURE CONTENT]

Ella clenched her chest and tried to scream but an invisible hand was placed over her mouth.

The nurse brought out a sharp and pointy knife. “Let’s carve out that dead baby, shall we?” She took off her veil only to reveal Chloe’s face.

“Chloe!” She said inaudibly as she thrashed and wrestled to save herself and her baby.

“No!”

“No!”

…

After five years of hard work, commitment, and devotion to the fashion company she worked for, Twenty-four years old Ariella, ‘Ella’, was more angry than devastated when she didn’t get promoted to creative director, a position she not only qualified for, but one she deserved.

While she is trying to figure out her next move, Ariella finds herself entangled in a contract marriage arrangement with Leon Treshvier– The very bossy, arrogant, and playboy billionaire CEO of a rival fashion company.

Will Ariella be able to tame her playboy husband? Will she be able to keep up with the demands of their contract and achieve her sole purpose of creating a niche for herself in the fashion world?

“Guokuo, Guoguo, ci… ciguo cake, fragrant…”

“Brother, after Qiu’er finishes eating this delicious, golden pancake fruit, can you tell Qiu’er another story?”

“Brother, Xia’er has signed up for the singing competition, will you teach Xia’er a song?”

“Brother, can you dance folk dances? Chun’er wants to learn…”

Zhuang Zhou dreamed of a butterfly, and the butterfly waved its wings gently, changing the wheel of life in suffering, and also changing the sky of Shengyu.

- Description from novelbuddy

[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.]

******

“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.