Mark of the Fool - Chapter 763: The Return of the General

Akashi was a boy so beautiful it seemed the gods had sculpted him with a touch of mischief and a dash of fragility. He wasn’t handsome in the rugged, masculine way of knights or warriors. No—his beauty was softer, captivating in its innocence. His frame was small, almost delicate, and his pale skin looked as if it had never known hardship, kissed only by the gentle sunlight of his village fields.With wide, striking black eyes that shimmered like obsidian under moonlight, and hair the color of a calm, endless ocean, Akashi possessed a charm that defied age, status, or reason. He didn’t know it, but his very existence pulled at the hearts of those who saw him—like an untouched gem waiting to be claimed.And yet, he had been untouched for a reason. Akashi had never known life beyond the boundaries of his village. He grew up surrounded by warm smiles and familiar voices. Every elder knew his name. Every child wanted to play by his side. His days were simple, his heart untouched by cruelty.But peace is a fragile thing.One night, it shattered.The sky turned crimson. Screams tore through the quiet air. Fires devoured homes. Demons—twisted beasts of shadow and rage—descended without warning. They killed with a hunger that could not be reasoned with.By morning, the village was gone.Ashes, corpses, and silence were all that remained.And Akashi… Akashi was alone.The last heartbeat in a graveyard of memories.He wandered for days, hollow and dazed, until rough hands seized him. Chains replaced freedom. Smiles were replaced by cold appraisals. And so, the boy once adored by all became something else—something to be sold.A slave.At the capital's grand auction house, he was stripped, washed, and displayed like merchandise. His beauty caused a stir. Whispers spread like wildfire.“Look at those eyes...”“That hair... Is it dyed? No, it’s real...”“So delicate... Is he even human?”To them, he was no longer a boy with a heart, but a prize to possess. A fantasy in fragile form.He stood on the stage, trembling slightly, barely able to process what was happening. The voices of the crowd blurred together—hungry, leering, filled with desire and greed. The auctioneer’s booming voice called out the bids as if Akashi were nothing more than a fine vase or a rare jewel.The numbers climbed quickly. Too quickly. Akashi’s knees weakened beneath the weight of invisible eyes drinking him in. He stared at the marble floor, trying not to cry.Then, suddenly, the room fell silent.A voice—deep, commanding, and heartbreakingly beautiful—cut through the air like silk over steel.“Fifteen thousand gold.”Time seemed to pause.Every head turned.At the back of the room, standing beneath the golden chandelier, was a woman unlike any other.She wore a flowing red gown that hugged her form like it was crafted by the gods themselves. Her long, golden hair shimmered like strands of sunlight, cascading over her shoulders with effortless grace. Her eyes, cold and blue as a glacier’s heart, stared ahead with quiet power.Even the nobles drew back. This was no ordinary bidder.It was one of the Princesses of the Three Great Kingdoms.Whispers erupted anew—but no one dared challenge her offer.Who would?She stood like royalty incarnate, a goddess who walked among mortals, and she had just claimed Akashi as her own.The boy raised his head slowly, unsure of whether to feel fear or relief. His eyes met hers—just for a second—and something in his chest shifted. She didn’t smile. She didn’t leer. Her gaze was unreadable.But it was powerful. Absolute.And it made his knees weak for an entirely new reason.He didn’t know her name. Not yet.But she had bought him.And somewhere deep inside, something told him—his life was never going to be the same.

“Darling, you are the moon that gave light in my darkest times.”

Giving up to find a man who could make her heart skip a beat and fall in love, Hailey Hillson accepted her best friend’s marriage proposal, and then she relented after hearing from another woman saying she couldn’t please a man in bed.

When it was just a week away from their wedding day, Bryan got back together with his ex-girlfriend Eva Lan. Hailey broke up with Bryan and called off their wedding.

But then, she discovered an interesting fact about Eva Lan—she is married.

‘Didn’t her husband know she cheated on him?’

After her heartbreak, Hailey focused on completing her life project. To achieve it, she went abroad where she came across the CEO of Shen Group Construction Firm, Vincent Lopez Shen, who offered her a contract later to pretend as his mistress to get his wife's attention.

As she has also had an ulterior motive, she signed it without thinking twice.

But what will happen after she lives with Vincent on one roof when he is Eva’s husband—the woman who destroys her relationship with Bryan?

Will Vincent find out her secret regarding her true identity? Would she find out the secret Vincent keeps that is related to her?

EXCERPT:

“Miss Eva Lan, why won’t you sign the divorce papers if you are happy with someone’s fiancé’s bed?”

Glancing at her with disbelief, Bryan turned his head to the woman inside his arm; he asked, “What the hell is this, Eva?”

Hailey cut in. Her words are a bomb to Bryan. “Oh, you didn’t know Miss Lan is a married woman, my dear ex-fiance?”

“You shut up! Don’t believe her, Bryan! She is just jealous of me because you love me over her!”

Hailey scoffed, a playful smile playing on her lips; before she could spout another word, the woman in front of her paled like a ghost.

“Vincent, what are you doing here?” Horror, panic, and shock linger on her face to see her husband appear out of nowhere and his arms wrapped around the girl’s waist.

Vince shoots a cold glare at his wife, which he feels no familiarity in between them.

He withdrew his gaze from the two people before them. He turned his head to the woman standing next to him, he looked at her with tenderness in his eyes, and with a loving tone, he asked her, “Darling, who upsets you? Tell me, and I will remove them from your sight in an instant.”

As her eyes flickered, her cheeks were flushing scarlet red. Hailey lifted her chin, then whispered, “Honey, Miss Lan bullied me. She said I couldn’t satisfy a man in bed. She told me, I didn’t know how to… do that….”

He contorted the corners of his mouth, Vince beamed. “That’s interesting.”

“What do you mean by that?” she pouted.

“What I’m trying to say is… Honestly, you are a fast learner. All you need is the right partner.”

With the descent of the first blood rain, the world underwent a dramatic transformation.Once bustling cities became playgrounds for zombies.Some people merely survive in this post-apocalyptic world, while others thrive using their strength in this new world.Opportunists are on the move, and lone wanderers roam the land.Firearms, artillery, superhumans, and mutated creatures drive the world in a new direction.Clove Russell is reborn at the dawn of the apocalypse, leveraging his Space Element superpower to unlock the genetic limits of the human body, dominating the post-apocalyptic world without rival.Linda: “This bastard has no feelings whatsoever, only using me to vent his desires!”Kelly: “He's so strong, so formidable!”Wendy: “I will conquer him! Clove conquers the world, and I will conquer Clove!”

That lonesome night as he lays dying in the hospital, fearing of death and desiring the taste of life, his mind became unprecedentedly complex with mixed emotions.