The Archduke's Songbird - Chapter 20: Guarded Secret

The Last Touched is a haunting fantasy of bloodlines, broken fate, and the perilous cost of power.Elsbeth MoonChild is the last of the touched—the final descendant of a cursed lineage bound to the flame. As Alpha of the shattered 12th pack, she bears the ruin left by her father’s crime: the murder of the queen. Branded by his betrayal, hunted by her former chosen mate, and driven into exile with the last of her people, Elsbeth has one desperate path forward—to survive, she must stake her claim in the Rite of Queens, an ancient trial that demands strength, sacrifice, and the will to rule.But the Rite does more than test her body and mind. It pulls her backward in time, submerging her into the forgotten life of her ancestor—the first queen. As memories bleed into dreams and dreams into waking, Elsbeth begins to unravel a long-buried truth: the flame in her blood is not just magic. It is a weapon. A curse. A gift once traded in blood and sacrifice to end an age of chaos.And she is not the only one who carries it.Julia, her estranged sister—exiled, fire-born, and half-mad with hunger—is no hybrid. She is the living echo of the power their bloodline tried to bury. Ruthless, charismatic, and driven by the belief that the throne was stolen from her, Julia is building a gospel of grievance and flame. Her army grows in the shadows, fed by secrets and stolen children. And with each ritual, the ancient seal weakens, waking something that was never meant to rise again.Torn between duty and desire, Elsbeth clings to the one thing that keeps her tethered—Fen, her true mate, a being older than he appears, hiding a divine truth of his own. Their bond runs deeper than fate, but it terrifies her. To surrender to it would mean choosing love over the kingdom. And if she falls too far, the flame inside her might burn her from within… just as it did her father.As old gods stir and the fire in her blood begins to answer the call of something watching from beneath the ice, Elsbeth must decide: will she become the queen her people need? Or the weapon her blood was meant to wield?

In modern society, a 24-year-old ordinary young man Reid managed to avoid a dump truck and declined the invitation to the reincarnation space, only to be sent to the Marvel Universe by a computer malfunction. There, he obtained the DC role-playing system. As a result, the Marvel Universe got a taste of the darkness from the DC Universe.In order to protect the Wayne Corporation, Alfred pulled the trigger on the executives supporting the IPO.To eliminate the mutant threat, he allowed Jean Grey to be infected with the Joker infection.Captain Marvel, who served as the cosmic police, could never have imagined that the Martian Manhunter, who followed her in fighting against the Kree empire, had been secretly controlling her mind all along.“I am indeed playing the role of a hero,” Reid did not deny this. “However, it's a hero that belongs to me.”When the threat was finally neutralized and the Justice League ascended the podium, people realized they had already been shrouded in injustice.

The youngest, silly fourteenth son of the Yan Emperor had reached the age where he should be given a separated territory now. He rejected the wealthy land, neighbouring the capital city, and instead chose the wildest land in the western region— Liangcheng. Everyone shook their heads and sighed. A fool is indeed a fool. If you go to Liangcheng, you will be killed by barbarians in less than three to five years.

One year later, the watermelon presented to the Emperor as the tribute from Liangcheng in the west was sweet and crispy. There was no one in the palace who did not love it.

Two years later, Liangcheng presented corn as a tribute to the Emperor. The yield was high, and the taste was good. No one in the country could resist liking it.

Three years later, Liangcheng defeated the barbarians and presented their prisoners in front of the imperial court. The people of Yan were excited and their morale was greatly boosted.

Four years later… Everyone said that the fourteenth prince Mingyu was a fool, while the little fatty Yu, who transmigrated with the golden finger, chuckled. Let’s see how you guys look at this fool build his own territory, then.

- Description from Novelupdates

Lassen, a young man who has failed at everything in his life, has had enough. Disillusioned with the world, he decides to end it all. But instead of dying, he wakes up in a parallel world, armed with a strange system that can accomplish anything he desires. Trapped in his room, reading novels and savoring every page, he has no intention of participating in the fast-paced world outside.Yet, despite his desire for peace, the world changes every time he makes an appearance. Everyone treats him like a genius, a being capable of disrupting the very fabric of reality, without lifting a finger. A powerful system, a new life, and a world that adapts to him: why complicate things when you can have everything without effort?The Genius System tells the story of a man who, although having everything to change the world, prefers to watch it evolve from the comfort of his room, through the pages of his books.