MTL - Dark Civilization - v5 Chapter 26 : Quenched Fruit

Lu Qingyan was once the perfect daughter—an obedient, soft-spoken high school girl known for her academic excellence and fragile health. But the one person she loved the most was her older brother—hentle, dazzling, and far too burdened for his age, he was her everything.. No one noticed his silent suffering… until it was too late. The day he took his own life, she shattered.Months later, while saving a child from an oncoming car, Lu Qingyan dies and awakens inside a familiar story: the school novel “A Thorn in the Crown”, one she read during her lowest days.But she’s no longer just a reader.She’s now Lu Qingyan, the infamous younger sister of Lu Mingxuan—the novel’s violent and cold-hearted villain feared across campus. A notorious delinquent, and ironically, the sworn enemy of her favorite character: Wang Jingyuan, the story’s tragic antagonist turned misunderstood villain.In the novel, Lu Qingyan is little more than cannon fodder—a delusional girl who idolizes her brother, gets caught in the crossfire between Lu Mingxuan and Wang Jingyuan, and ends up being dead.Determined to change the plot, she initially plans to curry favor with Wang Jingyuan—to save him from his doomed fate.But everything shifts the moment she lays eyes on Lu Mingxuan.He has her brother’s face.The same weary eyes.The same lonely back.The same silent cry for help no one else hears.And in that moment, Lu Qingyan’s plan shatters.This isn’t just a story anymore.So Lu Qingyan vowed to protect him this time, even if it means dragging her brother out of gang fights, squaring off against entitled rich kids, or defying the other villain himself—Wang Jingyuan, the school’s cold and brilliant golden boy... and Lu Mingxuan's sworn rival.In the original novel, Wang Jingyuan was one of the big villains—the cunning and miserable friend of the male lead. Now, he’s front and center... and watching her a little too closely....Lu Mingxuan always disliked his bootlicking sister, but one day he discovered that she had stopped following him around.Later, he unexpectedly found his sworn enemy, Wang Jingyuan, trapping his sister against the wall and between his arms. With an ambiguous and languid expression, he coaxed in a soft tone, “Just give up on that useless brother of yours. What Lu Mingxuan can give you, I can too.”Lu Qingyan: ???Wang Jingyuan, you dog!!That’s my sister!! Stop daydreaming!!

The war of gods left the earth no winners, but a broken world.

Scarlett's world collapses when she is drugged and forced to marry an old, filthy-rich widower with five children.

Trying to escape her seemingly inescapable troubles, she accepts an offer of a one-year contract marriage with a mysterious gentleman. He promises this will get her out of her hostile-arranged marriage problems. She took the offer.

If everything goes well, she will be a free and independent woman in one year...

However, many things take an unexpected turn. The contract marriage made Scarlett's life feel like she was riding a rollercoaster. A mix of exhilaration, dreaded inferno, and joyful heaven.

****

Only a crazy person would accept his offer. And right now, she does not fall into that category. Her mind is still sane.

“Please don't get me wrong. I'm just trying to help myself. And at the same time helping you.”

Scarlett was even more confused.

“I know my problem is complicated. But, I think being married to a man I just met, without love, feels weird...” She said.

“This is not a real marriage but a contract marriage that you can set up to your advantage. And also mine.”

Scarlett listened silently; inside, she was shocked and a bit perplexed.

Xander crossed his arms over his chest while looking into Scarlett's eyes. He continued, “As I said before, I will help you, and at the same time, you will help me. I don't need to explain what my problem is. But, I assure you, if you agree to do a contract marriage with me, then your problems will be solved. So what do you think!?”

Scarlett was in no hurry to speak. She slowly raised her head and said, “So I can put any clauses I want in the contract?”

The man nods, saying, “As long as it doesn't hurt me.”

She offered a handshake to Xander, “Okay. You got a deal!”

……………………………………………………………

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On one spring evening when I was eight years old, I, Erica, Duke of Aurelia’s daughter, realized something.

Huh, I have reincarnated into a fantasy world, haven’t I?

Moreover, it was the romance-fantasy girl game that had the reputation of being bloody, 『Liber Monstrorum ~Phantom Beasts and the Winter Princess~』

The face reflected in the mirror was that of the villainess character of that game.

After repeatedly harassing many characters, including the heroine, she would die without exception, signaling the beginning of an event called the bizarre incident. She was a villain who deserved to get the consequences!

—I absolutely don’t want a destiny like that, though?

No, for me who has remembered the memory of my previous life, there would be no such thing.

In my previous life, I was harassed immensely by an irrationally angry yandere man who proclaimed ‘She is absolutely in love with me.’

My cause of death, too, was from being stabbed by another yandere man who I only had talked with a few times……

Now that I have become the haughty villainess Erica, I shouldn’t encounter more misunderstandings like with the previous life’s yandere men anymore, right……?

In that case, it will be fine as long as I deal with the death flags that I may have raised myself.

All right! First of all, before the bizarre incident begins at the Magic Academy, I will strike down the death flags accordingly!!

—Or so I thought, but it seems that I am about to die.

Eeh, how did this happen—!?