The Villainess is a Marionette - Chapter 18: Scene 4. How to Prepare for Marriage

To exist in a certain place, at a certain time—it's always either by chance, or by choice.But sometimes,There is a third force.One that doesn't ask.One that doesn't explain.It simply places you—wherever it wants.Arséne had always been dragged into places he never chose.Situations he never asked for.Realities he never belonged to.And when, at last, he decided to act on his own terms—To take the initiative,To move first,To choose…He simply died.

After transmigrating, Shen Yuan initially thought he would be able to join an immortal sect and live forever in luxury under the aid of the system. However, who could have predicted that the Falling Clouds Sect, mentioned in the novice guide mission, had been destroyed ten thousand years ago? He was late by a full ten thousand years!His path to immortality seemed to have lost all hope, but Shen Yuan has found a completely new approach to the system missions.If the Falling Clouds Sect had been destroyed for ten thousand years, no one should object if I claim myself the Sect Master, right?He wrote his name in the list of Sect Masters. Hidden achievement completed: Sect Master, rewarded with Earthly Destroyer Divine Power: Pot’s Heaven.A Demon Path Giant from ten thousand years ago left a remnant soul, preparing to hide in a ring and act like a grandfather?He destroyed the ring in a backhand manner. Hidden achievement completed: Demon Path Nemesis, rewarded with Earthly Destroyer Divine Power: Gods Purging.An ancient forbidden land from ten thousand years ago, left with nothing but desolate hills and graves due to Spirit Energy depletion?He sent a construction team to remodel the scenic area and moved the graves one by one. Hidden achievement completed: Leveling the Ancient Wilderness, rewarded with the Heavenly General Divine Power: Seven Arrowhead.While Shen Yuan was busy collecting hidden achievements, rumors of a powerful return of the Falling Clouds Sect quietly spread throughout the whole Cultivation World.

A conversation with a handsome stranger leaves Ariane chained in a cellar with a strange affliction. She soon discovers that the darkness of the nineteenth century’s Deep South hides many dangers. Mages, wolf shifters and the humans who hunt them play a risky game where to stumble is to die, all under the amused gaze of the apex predators of the supernatural world: vampires.

It is never healthy to attract the gaze of the aristocracy of the night. It takes much to survive in this merciless world, but Ariane will not let that deter her. The southern belle has a bite, and she is willing to learn and to grow in this hostile new world. She will use whatever means necessary to reclaim her freedom, be it guile, charm, or those intriguing new instincts that make blood so delectable.

This is a story of vampires as I believe they should be, with their strengths and weaknesses, with their remnants of humanity and the beast inside. Updates every Friday. Mind the tags.

Cover by Antti Hakosaari: https://www.artstation.com/haco

Special thanks to Svensonsen for getting me started, as well as Omi Nya, Hesketh, Rhaegar, Yaksher, Selkie and Raven for proofreading my stuff. Thanks to my patrons and you dear readers, for the support. I could not do it without you.

Journey is on Amazon, both in ebooks and audio. here is a link to the first one:

https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B08DK6G8Y8

The story probably exists in your local marketplace as well of I can tempt you.

When Han Kain woke up, he and several other people were inside a mysterious hotel with different rules and different expectations.Going into each hotel room threw them into other worlds and scenarios where they must brace death at times to escape or lift the curse of the individual rooms for a chance to bring everyone that died during the process back to life.Using their blessings that were given at the time of entry, they have to weave their way through the rooms while sometimes sacrificing themselves for a higher likelihood of success.* Very little horror; more of a thriller