A Step into the Past - Volume 1 Chapter 6

[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.]

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“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.

There was nothing left to lose in his life.He had lived as a hero. He had started at the bottom and worked his way up to the top, at the end he become the best, yet he had always been betrayed by those he had tried to protect.Humanity did not deserve his protection.When everything went out and he could no longer even hope to beg for his life, he could do nothing but look up at the blood-red sky among the corpses of demons and angels.He wished for one more chance, just one more chance.And when that chance was given to him, he swore that he would change everything. He would no longer be a hero to save people, but an anti-hero to save the world.Sacrificing hundreds of people to save an elf, poisoning hundreds of people to save a group of half-demons.He didn't care about any of that anymore, he would protect those he cared about and send everything else to hell.Not even the gods or goddesses could stop him.

After a delirious first night together, Shi Guang found herself waking up to a cruel reality… a breakup initiated by him, ending their relationship! What? Why? How? These were the questions that bugged Shi Guang’s mind in the two years after he left without a trace. Just as she thought that she had finally managed to get over him, Lu Yanchen suddenly appeared before her and before she knew it, she had to get married to this man who had dumped her two years ago?! What? Why? How? These were the questions that Shi Guang was faced with after his mysterious appearance once more. Just what are Young Master Lu’s motives? Why is he always watching out for her even though he was the one that had dumped her? And worst still… What’s with that tsundere attitude of his…?!

Despite being betrayed by her boyfriend, the neglected heiress Lariette Elsher is still forced to marry him – all because her family wants to appease the fake daughter. The one she was switched at birth with.Screw this! She's done playing nice!Devasted and enraged, Lariette seeks her friend's help – to pick the best man at her butler cafe to be her contracted husband.Enter Ruediger Alvord, infamously known as the poor outcast of the Alvord family, the Elsher's family nemesis. He proposes to be Lariette's partner-in-crime, to wreak havoc in both families.While Lariette is busy getting her revenge, she fails to notice her contracted husband's strange behavior. She also fails to recognize him from a distant past.Before>Ruediger: I have nothing much on my name but, I can be a good househusband.Lariette: It's okay. I can feed you.After>Ruediger: Do you want that house? It's nothing much. Only one billion.Lariette: Aren't you just... a househusband?Since when is her husband a billionaire?!