Evil Duke, Please Be Gentle! - Chapter 514 What Happened To Her?(Chapter Preview)

This book is fan fiction for the game “The Last of Us” and will include characters from other Apocalypse games. Currently joining: Game version of The Walking Dead, Metro Exodus.

Shadow was an assassin with no family, no friends, and no purpose beyond the missions assigned to him. Kidnapped at the age of five and forced to serve a ruthless assassin organization for fifty long years, his life was a series of shadows and bloodshed. On the eve of his fifty-fifth birthday, he completed his final mission with hope in his heart. A hope that freedom and a better life were finally within reach.But that hope was shattered. Betrayed by the very organization he had devoted his life to, Shadow was ruthlessly killed, his decades of loyalty repaid with treachery. As his life slipped away, he swore one thing.“If he had a second chance, he would live life on his terms, unshackled and free”.In the void between life and death, Shadow's soul was met by “Syl”. The enigmatic Shadow Monarch's System. Syl offered him what he craved most. Another chance at life, but in a world far different from his own. Without hesitation, Shadow accepted, eager to grasp the life he was denied.Reborn into a realm of gods, magic, and chaos, Shadow soon learns the truth.He is a Wild Card, a pawn in the gods’ celestial game. Amere source of entertainment for their whims. But Shadow is no ordinary human. With the sarcastic and unpredictable Syl by his side, a glitching system that grants him powers beyond imagination, he embarks on a journey to defy the gods and forge his destiny.

Xu Youyou rebirthed to when she was 16 years old and chose a path different from her previous life and met Qiao Mu ten years earlier. The youth who had braved the wind and snow protecting her till death — and who had confessed to her.

And she realized, the Qiao Mu ten years earlier and the Qiao Mu she knew were completely different people. He didn’t have his smile that could radiate sunlight, he didn’t have his courage that could penetrate snowstorms, and he certainly didn’t have his perfect eight pack. He was like a short mushroom, quietly growing in the corner’s shadow.

Xu Youyou: If you dare be like this when you confess to me, you are so dead.

Qiao Mu was a teenage Weiqi genius, he loved Weiqi, but because of his shadow of youth was unable to enter the competition arena. And because of the fear, he was unable to become a professional player and could only return to a typical school life.

Until he met Xu Youyou.

A widely known reckless and fearless girl, who was the complete opposite of him. She was good at everything, except things relating to love. Clearly he wasn’t her type, yet she always provoked him. But the biggest joke was himself, he clearly knew everything, yet could not help but fall into the hands of the enemy.

- Description from Novelupdates

[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.