MTL - A Good Protagonist Bends When He Says - Chapter 74 The End of the Moon [6]

Ernest Quelt, the alchemist renowned for his unparalleled mastery of alchemy, has perished.But his death wasn't a noble sacrifice in battle, nor the result of a failed expedition—it was a betrayal. The very comrades he trusted most turned on him, driven by envy of his growing power.Yet fate wasn’t entirely cruel. With his final breath, Ernest's gaze fell upon the tube that contained his greatest achievement: a perfect artificial being known as the Homunculus.More than just a vessel resembling a human, this creation harbored the power of a catastrophic beast—one that had once nearly brought the world to ruin.

This red dragon came from the vast wilderness, coveting all the powers of the world. He has held countless titles: Mountain Fury, Purgatorial Calamity, Red Emperor, Ember Dragon…The world trembles under the shadow of the great dragon. He ignited the surge of the magical industrial revolution. In the empire he established, wyverns roar, cannon fire resounds, steel behemoths appear in the sky and on the earth, and disasters from other worlds run rampant.“Submit, or die.”Cassius spread his sky-shading wings, looking down upon the trembling humans, elves, and dwarves beneath him, and spoke thus.………A story of a red dragon with a built-in player template conquering, ruling, and transforming another world.(Pseudo D&D, Fourth Catastrophe, Red Dragon, translation )

The story begins as our female lead wakes up in a strange room and an unfamiliar body. She realizes that she has travelled back in time and her twenty-two year old spirit is now trapped in the body of a six year old girl. This girl child is the third daughter of Ning Guo’s Prime Minister Li and his seventh wife. Her name is Li Qing Luo and because her mother was originally from an entertainment house, Prime Minister Li and his other six wives treated them badly.

Her first day in that world, the whole family gathers to test the talent of the three daughters. Qing Lei, the eldest, is talented at playing the zither while Qing Fei’s calligraphy is incomparable. Everyone anticipates A’Luo’s failure as she had not exhibited any talent before, but that six year old child recites a famous Tang poem. The entire family is surprised that Qing Luo is able to write such a profound poem and her mother later tells her that Prime Minister Li is so harsh on his daughters because he needs to rely on them marrying well to secure his future. Qing Luo begins to study qin, qi, shu, hua (zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting) but hides her skill because she does not want to be sold in marriage to some prince or court official.

Six years later, A’Luo is now twelve and leaves the estate for the first time to participate at a flower viewing banquet. This is a special banquet because the Five Most Eligible Bachlors of Feng Cheng will be in attendance (there’s actually a more elegant name for them). These young men are: Crown Prince Liu Jian, Fourth Prince Liu Fei, the young An Qing Wang Liu Jue, the son of Prime Minister Gu Gu Tian Xiang, and the top scorer of the Imperial Examinations Cheng Si Yue. A’Luo sneaks off and almost falls into a river, but is saved by a handsome young man. Because he glanced at her bare legs a moment too long, A’Luo calls him a pervert, tries to push him into the river and runs off. The young man only laughs and vows to find her again.

- Description from Novelupdates

Xue Dongting was a singsong girl plucked from her small border town to become the consort of the crown prince. Little did she know she would be murdered by his own hand.

Now reborn, she has a chance for a do-over. This time around, she will marry that fisherman from the next village over and live a quiet, peaceful life, away from the scheming intrigues of the imperial family.

It’s just that, this lowly fisherman is not quite what he seems…