The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village - Volume 8, Chapter 3: Entrance to the Gaping Abyss that Looks Up toward Heaven by Hishigami Mai

His name was Brayden Neal, and he was an ordinary citizen. At eighteen years old, he was bestowed the title of a king!

After ten years of fighting in the northern borders outside the kingdom, he finally returned home. He swore to kill three people the moment he arrived at the capital…

Before they got married, Laurent already knew that Dave Washington had another woman in his heart, yet she still chose to marry him because Dave had always been the one she loved. She loved Dave, but his heart belonged to another woman. It was said that this woman loved another man, who happened to be Dave's illegitimate half-brother. Laurent believed that having a child would secure their shaky marriage.Until one day, the woman Dave loved finally told him, “Actually, the person I love is you.”Laurent had devoted her youth and energy to this sensational and messy love story, only to helplessly watch it collapse. Heartbroken, she chose to divorce.She thought Dave's infidelity would make her easily give up on the house, car, and property during the divorce, with the only request being custody of their daughter. But to her surprise, Dave insisted that she was unfit to raise their daughter and refused to give her custody.In order to fight for her daughter, she embarked on a long and exhausting legal battle.She said to him, “You're so persistent—aren't you worried your lover is waiting for you anxiously?”Dave smiled and replied, “If you have time to worry about her, you might as well get a new lawyer.”In a fit of rage, she threw a cup of water in his face. “Dave Washington, you're despicable!”Yes, every lawyer she hired was bought off by him with large sums of money. Finally, disheartened, she gave up custody of their daughter and decided to leave the country to heal.But he sent someone to intercept her at the airport...

I had nothing left to live for.No family. No friends. No future.Just a shattered soul wandering through a world that had already taken everything.Then I died.And that’s when everything changed.I woke in a world of light. A void between realms. A place where gods whisper and broken souls wait to be judged. There, I met Ashen Crimson—a man who had once been worshipped, then feared, and finally cursed by the very gods he had defied. A tyrant who had destroyed his own world.But now, he’s offering me something terrifying:His life. His past. His power. His chance to make things right.The catch?The world of Zerawell is fractured.Ashen’s name is soaked in blood.His fate is sealed—exile, ruin, and eternal hatred.And now, it’s my name.Because I’ve been reborn as Ashen Crimson, heir to a house that both reveres and reviles me. A noble with dormant shadow magic, a shattered reputation, and a cursed destiny I never asked for.But I’ve lived a life of pain. I’ve walked alone through hell already.And I won’t follow his footsteps into madness.With a divine system familiar in my soul, a second chance burning in my chest, and the memories of a monster as my burden—I will rewrite this fate.Let them call me villain, disgrace, or traitor.I didn’t choose this story.But I’ll finish it.Even if it kills me.

Who made the rule that a woman can't be the first to confess her feelings to a man?

If there was one, then it didn't matter to this young woman.

In order to escape from her stepmother and stepsister, Zhang Liling sought help from Mr. Fang, a Business Mogul, specially invited to take her department on Business Management, and she was rejected because of her absurd request.

But through his Personal assistant, she managed to cunningly secure a home-work contract and moved into his villa.

A few weeks of living together as a Boss and Employee was enough time for Mr. Fang to see all the crazy sides of Zhang Liling and also for her to discover his health secret, hyperosmia. But the irony of her scent not affecting him baffled her.

Mr. Fang not being used to Zhang Liling’s unrestrained behavior and coupled with the rumors about them threatened to throw her out of his villa. But when she finally left, he began to long for her return.

At last, Zhang Liling returned. To others, she was a different person, but to Mr. Fang, she was the same feisty woman he has always known.

Together as a couple, Zhang Liling and Mr. Fang unmasked her stepmother’s deep dirty secret that will threaten the Zhang Family’s reputation.

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EXCERPT

“Mr. Fang, do you accept stray cats?” Zhang Liling asked a little breathlessly as a layer of sweat formed on her forehead. She had just run over in other to catch up with him.

Mr. Fang paused briefly in his steps and turned to give her a good glance after adjusting his reading glasses. “You look like one,” he said in a deep voice before continuing in his steps.

How could Zhang Liling let him leave like that when it was a matter of urgency? She quickly chased after him and yelled, “Mr. Fang, you really have to take this stray cat in.”

“I don't accept stray cats, I only accept humans,”Mr. Fang replied as a slight smile turned up on his face.