MTL - After Binding the Barrage, My Friend and I Wore Red and Black - Chapter 4

Ethan's head throbbed violently as he opened his eyes, his vision hazy and unfocused. A dull ringing filled his ears, drowning out his thoughts.“What’s happening…?” he thought, his mind sluggish, struggling to catch up with reality. One moment, he was asleep—or at least, he thought he was—and the next, searing pain forced him awake.His vision swam, shapes blurring together in a disorienting mess. But then, muffled noises filtered through the haze—frantic, panicked sounds. Someone was trying to scream, their voice smothered, choked by something.A cold shiver ran down his spine.As his sight gradually sharpened, Ethan's breath hitched.He was on all fours, looming over someone. A girl.Her body twisted and writhed beneath him, ropes biting into her wrists and ankles. Her mouth was gagged, muffling her cries. Her wide brown eyes, brimming with fear and fury, glared up at him.Ethan's body locked in place, his blood running cold.“What the…?” His mind reeled, thoughts slamming into each other in chaotic disarray. “What kind of bizarre dream is this?”Panic clawed at his chest. His breath came in ragged, uneven gasps as he scrambled backward, only to realize his limbs felt sluggish, uncooperative, like they didn’t belong to him.“Is this… is this some kind of twisted fantasy I never knew I had?” A sickening thought slithered through his mind, making his stomach churn.The girl's frantic squirming slowed for a moment, her gaze flickering with confusion as she took in his expression—his trembling hands, his wide, horrified eyes. But the fear returned just as quickly. She struggled harder, her body arching, her muffled screams rising in pitch.Ethan wanted to speak, to say something, anything, but before he could force out a word, a glowing blue window materialized before his eyes.His breath caught.A translucent, hovering screen?“What…?”Lines of glowing text scrolled across its surface.---[System Activated…][Host Confirmed.][Simulating Previous Data…]Ethan awakens in a mysterious world, shackled by a curse that clouds his judgment and drives him toward choices he never wished to make. Burdened by guilt and responsibility, he must navigate the fallout of his actions while unraveling the truth behind the curse—and his place in this enigmatic new reality.

I let out a bitter laugh. “It’s ironic, isn’t it? You spent years making my life a living hell, and now you look at me like I’m the very air you breathe.”Lennox’s face fell. “Olivia, it wasn’t supposed to be like this—”I cut him off, my eyes blazing with anger. “Oh, but it was. You wanted me broken. You wanted me to suffer. And I did.” I paused, my voice trembling. “But not anymore.”Louis, who had been silent, spoke softly. “Olivia, we—”I shook my head and took a step back, putting distance between us. “No. Whatever you think you feel, it doesn’t matter. It’s too late. You had a choice. And every single time, you chose her. Over and over again, you chose Anita.”Levi shook his head. “We were wrong.”I met their gazes. “Yes, you were. And now, you’ll have to live with it.”With that, I turned away, refusing to let them see the tears burning in my eyes.••••••••Olivia Parker was once the cherished daughter of a respected Gamma—until betrayal shattered her world. Branded the daughter of a traitor, she was stripped of her title, her dignity, and the life she had known, forced to serve as an Omega among those who once respected her.But fate wasn’t done with her yet.On the night of the mating ceremony, Olivia discovered the cruelest twist of all—she wasn’t fated to just one mate, but three. And not just any three. Alpha Lennox, Alpha Louis, and Alpha Levi—the ruthless triplet Alphas who had spent years tormenting her.Bound to a marriage they never wanted, the triplets made her life a waking nightmare. They paraded their lover, Anita, before her, ensuring she never forgot her place, never forgot that they would never want her.But fate has a way of playing its own game. As secrets unravel and buried truths come to light, the triplets begin to see Olivia for who she truly is—not just a Luna in title, but the woman they never realized they needed.Only now, she’s done waiting.

s a self-professed no-lifer, Yuri idles his days away in front of a computer. This all changes the moment his life in Japan comes to an abrupt end and he finds himself reborn in the strange new world of the Shiyalta Kingdom. His new life includes everything he once lacked: loving parents, a comfortable home, and a promising future breeding and raising birds on his dad’s ranch. For centuries, the kingdom he now calls home has enjoyed peace and prosperity, shielded by friendly nations that, like Shiyalta itself, were established with the collapse of a once-great empire. War is a distant problem, relevant only to Shiyalta’s ruling families whose warriors periodically set out to join the fighting upon massive birds trained by Yuri’s dad and others. But this peaceful existence can’t last forever. Something rotten lies at the heart of the kingdom, and it doesn’t take someone with Yuri’s exceptional intelligence to realize that those distant battles will only remain irrelevant for so long.