MTL - Steel, Guns and the Industrial Party Across the World - Chapter 580 colonial

The rivers and lakes carry wine with swords, the waist is slender and the palm is light.

The young man carried a long knife on his shoulder, and hung wine on his waist, striding forward, but the rivers and lakes in his heart were vaguely visible.

Turning a page in the book of troubled times, the rivers and lakes have been raining nightly for decades.

Looking back suddenly, the world has been shattered.

- Description from novelbuddy

A Speedster in a Fantasy World

Bei Qingqing was left to fend for herself over eighteen years before the rich Bei Family finally took her back. She found that her identity as a daughter had been replaced by the ‘naive and adorable’ Bei Bei, who was kept in her family.

Affection grows with proximity, and that certainly applied for them — there was just no comparing the affection the Bei Family had towards Bei Bei, to the affection of their biological daughter. They had spoiled Bei Bei for eighteen years.

Using Bei Qingqing’s adopted mother’s illness as leverage, the Bei Family forced Bei Qingqing to substitute Bei Bei’s marriage to a comatose man, Chen Jiazhi.

It seems that Bei Bei was now all that mattered to them.

Even so, Bei Qingqing married Chen Jiazhi, who had been comatose for years and said to have no chance of waking up. By doing so, she earned her two-million-yuan dowry for her adopted mother’s hospital bills.

Though Bei Qingqing believed that she would be widowed for life, she didn’t expect an accidental kiss on their first night to wake Chen Jiazhi!

Everyone in the entire Chen Family — from grandparents to uncles — are now indebted to Bei Qingqing. They all spoiled her, especially her now-awake husband Chen Jiazhi. Naturally, the Chen Family also took care of her adopted mother by providing her with better treatment!

Bei Bei was left red-eyed in fury! She was supposed to be Chen Jiazhi’s fiancee. His enormous wealth and affection were rightfully hers!

Moreover, Bei Qingqing had health problems and couldn’t get pregnant. Bei Bei will do her best and scheme to replace Bei Qingqing!

Unexpectedly, however, Bei Qingqing was having morning sickness just two months after marrying despite rumors of her infertility!

As for the Bei family that abandoned her? They were declining at a visible rate, and soon wouldn’t even deserve to lick Bei Qingqing’s shoes!

[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.