Ancient Eden - Chapter 53

[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.

Dancing on the point of a knife, as a dancer in the dark, his dance steps makes the enemy tremble.

As a man who is followed by the goddess of fortune, he has been reborn with two years of experience in the game, numerous raid experience, hidden task guide and the best equipment references. The things he once lost, what he didn’t hold and those that had been taken, he is going to get them back.

- Description from Novelupdates

What is the meaning of living hundreds of lives?Is it a curse or a hope? Murai grapples with the notion that his endless cycle of death and rebirth is an eternal torment. With no choice or voice, he finds himself like yet another pebble in a vast river of lives.Each death brings a new beginning—a new world awaiting. But this time, he awakens as a duck, complete with wings, a strange beak, and a little stature that doesn't please him.His Cursed Living has led him to this odd form, and though it seems bizarre, he is determined to discover what his tiny legs can achieve and how his mighty wings can confront the challenges ahead. Perhaps even the Gods who condemned him to this fate? Nay. They aren't everything and he knows it.Survival is paramount; the world wants his little life for numerous reasons, but every one of them is the same. He destroys. A strange voice echoes in his mind, whispering levels and abilities or rules about this world called the Battleworld. He accepts that, yet he yearns for revenge—a chance to reclaim his purpose amidst this silly absurdity of walking on two little flat feet.This world will witness his journey as a duck. All shall see his ascension!What can you expect from this novel that sounds ridiculous, as a duck sounds?- A stoic and long-term survival adventure in a high fantasy world with a non-human MC. - Fights, abilities, attributes, and skills and softer litrpg elements. There are 100 levels to beat, with a lot of systems underneath.- Gods and a big world that Boosts and plays with its citizens or almost anything alive, blessings or tricking them.- Some numbers go up. Xianxia and Progression Fantasy elements like magic, techniques, swordsmanship, and world-building. Cultivation and a big world full of mysteries.- MC, Murai, is a weird entity in the overall story. He is a numerous-time reincarnator so expect some shenanigans with it. Discover what he is on about, or who he is or used to be. I wouldn't necessarily call him OP. Sometimes he is, while other times not so much. So much for a duck...This will be a very long series of books, with 1st drafts in November 2023 going up to the 10th book which marks no end in view.

He died because he could not kill ‘him’.

He lived because he could not kill ‘him’.

Kang Yoonsoo, who had lived 999 lives by losing to the Demon Emperor.

Once again, he went back twenty years in time, back to his starting point.

“I will end this.”

Either he dies, or ‘he’ dies.

The thousandth life of a man who has mastered all the skills in the world begins.

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