DEFYING FATE - Chapter 81: Receiving gifts

CONTENT WARNING:/This novel contains mature themes, explicit sexual content, strong language, and adult situations. Reader discretion is advised./---She ran from the devil who raised her…And married the one who wore a crown.After her parents’ tragic death, Lydia Andreyevna’s life became a nightmare. Stripped of her name, inheritance, and freedom by her uncle—Lord Alexander—she was treated like property and promised to a Count four times her age.Desperate to escape, she fled into the cold night… and straight into blood.A stranger. Wounded. Beautiful. Terrifying.She should’ve left him.But she didn’t.She touched him once—and fate branded her forever.Her uncle caught her the next morning. Her escape failed. But when she begged Queen Olga for protection, the Queen offered her a deadly bargain:Marry the masked Grand Duke of Zolotaria.The king’s hunting dog. The butcher of the East. The devil in a crown.The man feared by kings.The heir to the throne.The same man she once saved.Ivan Romanov.They say he bathes in blood. That he kills without blinking. That he conquered kingdoms with a smile behind a mask. That no one sees his face—and lives.Some call him the devil. Others call him Death’s favorite son.But behind the mask is the same man she found dying in the dark.The same voice that haunted her dreams.The same hands she once held.Now, he’s her husband.Her jailer.Her obsession.She doesn’t know if she’s his prisoner, or his weakness.Cold and untouchable, Ivan doesn’t share his bed. Doesn’t share his secrets. But she sees it—the hunger in his eyes. The pain in his silence. The way he looks at her like she’s the only thing keeping his demons at bay.She should fear him.She should hate him.But the moment she dares to take off his mask… it’s already too late.Because Ivan wants her—her fire, her body, her heart.And in his world, what he wants, he keeps.Even if it means burning down the kingdom.She thought she was running from hell.She ended up in his bed.And the most dangerous thing of all?She doesn’t want to leave.

“Great Mr. Chen Yu, having been successfully elected as the leader of the human race last night, do you have anything you’d like to say to the whole world?” Chen Yu got out of bed, bewildered and still undressed, “I don’t know, I just woke up...”

Yan Ting: Life is no fun. What is the difference between life and death?

Li Zhao: Life is very happy.

The world in Yan Ting’s heart was very grey until he met Li Zhao. He thought this must be the liveliest person in the world. Otherwise, how could Li Zhao be so lively in his heart every day?

Very happy x Unhappy.

Warm text with entertainment circle elements.

- Description from Novelupdates

The Spirit Network, known as【Deep Sea】 connected five continents as human civilization surged forward; yet, they were oblivious to the impending eternal night. With the Extraordinary Awakening, the edifice was about to collapse. Flesh is weak and pitiful, how could one ascend? The story began when Gu Shen, an ordinary youth, received a ruler that bore the truth. He peeled back the corner of this extraordinary world, becoming the largest moth among the thousands that dashed into the flames. If winter is coming, I will climb against the steps, overturn the thrones of kings, shatter the crowns of falsehood, destroy the scepters of injustice. I will become humanity's last, Bright Barrier.