Starting out as a Dragon Slave - Chapter 48: Pocketing the winnings

After failing to ascend to the heights of Divinity despite all her preparations, an ancient cultivator finds herself not embracing the emptiness of the void - but the interior warmth of a womb.Her memories intact despite her spirit being a merest fraction of her height - and her trusted Astralism unchanged - she carefully starts over from an infant.How to navigate her family: [really easy with only two parents and an estate full of servants!]How to portray herself: [everyone likes 'sweet' kids and trusts (underestimates) 'weak' girls!]How 'quickly' to reveal the power she gathers: [this region is a 'backwater', let's just take it slow~]How her marriage was arranged before birth: [my parents adore me so at an appropriate time I'll just have it cance- oh?]Dealing with an 'amusing' deceit: ['he' looks worried still, but 'he' doesn't have to worry from me!]Confronting the 'boy' in private: [whatever their iffy plan is, I just obtained a husband-wife~]Even in a new life, | Elua er Goltbred | can't and doesn't *want* to change who she really is. A scheming cultivator. A possessive lover. Neither of those things had been a real hindrance to the Peak of Demi-God.Balancing the two in this life - without driving away the young 'boy' she decided would be hers - centers as much around helping | Qatrand er Yecine | find herself... as it is hoping to ease the fiance into how messed up the 'younger' girl honestly is.It's a good thing that the reborn cultivator can improvise with her ridiculous control of an Illusion Astralism - because plans fail and unexpected things happen when you're not *really* a genius.Like her Physique in this life allowing the lightest 'grip' to crack stone...| Qat | (the nickname picked almost instantly!) despite being a little stunted by her family environment early on, finds her future wife to be 'cute' on their first meeting.... she really shouldn't have let on.It made her | El | kind of vain.Oh, and muscles.| Elua | : I just like looking at them, okay!? Is it so weird? People can have hobbies...

He is Xi Liang’s legendary emperor: a decisive and ruthless king; a man of supreme wisdom; a cunning strategist.

According to legend, he once conferred the love meant for the three thousand concubines in his harem onto one woman, while the world watched in envy.

According to legend, he once executed a hundred people for her, turning the palace into a purgatory overnight.

According to legend, he ultimately sentenced that same woman to death by execution…

A conspiracy that swept through the country resulted in her tragic end. This lifetime seems to be a repeat of her past life. Can she escape the clutches of fate to attain true love in this life? In both lives, she was the Emperor’s wife, but is that ruthless man really her true love mandated by Heaven?

Did she really die, just like that?

In the end, beyond the veil of lies and mysteries, who exactly was she? Was she a woman that he truly loved, or was she merely a chess piece to be used in his political machinations?

The stories passed onto later generations remain fraught with conflicting opinions.

- Description from Novelupdates

Born into darkness, Lucius is marked by an infernal curse—the Mark of the Abyss. This unholy sigil endows him with powers that defy mortal comprehension, yet seals his fate: servitude, rejection, and a grim demise.Embark on a journey with Lucius as he unravels the hidden truth behind the Marks, battles to carve out a destiny of his own, and strikes back against the cruel fate imposed upon him.In a world that shuns him for his cursed existence, Lucius will forge unlikely alliances to challenge those who scorn him. He is driven by a relentless desire to claim a place for himself and his loved ones, no matter the cost.Prepared to plunge into the darkest depths of depravity, Lucius is poised on the brink of a harrowing journey. The ultimate enigma remains: what awaits him in the abyss of his ambitions?

She has been drawn into the life of the phoenix, such fate – “The Emperor Swallow”, but few days later she married the Prime Minister; she possesses beauty that overthrows cities and ruins states but also has a talented and virtuous mind, yet her husband is deeply in love with the Emperor’s doted consort. On their wedding night, his face filled with guilt, says to her: Apart from love, I can give you anything……

Though deep in nobility, her life is not monotonous, to pick up the new number one scholar from within the imperial palace, to rescue the Nu clan’s prince in the back alleys, and with the young general falling off the cliff, with the Emperor engaging in a battle of wits over the inner palace…….

Many men were unable to conquer her beauty and wisdom, yet when trying to win the beauty, they cannot let go of their plundering desires in lust for power. Within the imperial court, there is an underlying turbulence of disputing fronts. On the battlefield, there is the slaughtering of armoured cavalry……the tender grace of a beauty, hearts fuelled with lust for power, which is it that is the burial of such heroes?

Troubled times since the war, they survive in this strife, fighting to dominate this world, seizing the beauty that overthrows cities and ruin states……

The world, because of this beauty, is in chaos; but who is it that this beauty charmingly smiles at?