A Record of Ash & Ruin: The Grieving Lands - Chapter 35Book 3: : The Accord

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.

The protagonist, Winnie (文尼), confesses his love to his childhood friend—the princess he’s been secretly in love with for years—but is brutally rejected in public. His heart shatters, he’s humiliated and ridiculed, and he collapses unconscious. When he wakes up, he vaguely remembers his past life’s memories and realizes he has transmigrated into the world of an otome game he played before. At first, he’s thrilled, thinking, “Nice! I must have been reincarnated as a villainous side character who disrupts the protagonist’s romance, right?” But then… surprise! He’s not just the villain—he’s the “Saintess”!

“Shameless Xia Ping, not only did you steal my martial arts manual and medicinal pills, you even took my fiancée! We’re not finished!”

“He’s the embarrassment of the Martial Way and a parasite of the human race. A complete scumbag.”

“There’s nothing that he won’t do. Not only would he not help an old person cross the road, he would even steal the lollipop of a three year old.”

“He causes problems everywhere. All of the geniuses of those big families have been beaten up by him before. Now, he’s no longer tolerated by either humans or gods!”

Countless martial arts experts of Yanhuang Star hated Xia Ping down to the very bone. They were just itching to completely crush him into pieces.

As for Xia Ping? Facing the hatred of so many people, he just calmly pulled up the interface of the “Grand Hatred System” and looked at all the wonderful things there. He rubbed his chin, “I’ve already saved up so many Hatred Points. What should I exchange for now? Saint-grade medicinal pills? Or perhaps that Primordial Pill? The peerless martial art skill, Tathagata Palm also seems pretty good too. But then there’s that divine weapon, the Cosmic Cauldron. It really is too difficult to choose!”

- Description from novelupdates

Zheng Tan somehow returns to the year 2003, turning into a black cat. Picked up from a rubbish heap by the Jiao family, he is given the name “Charcoal”, and so begins the life inside Professor Jiao’s family. Zheng Tan remembers that he was once a person, but currently his body is that of a cat. He has no way of speaking the human language, but can understand it, and even retains the thinking and IQ of a young 20 year old youth. Read along as he adapts to this new world, and somehow tumbles from a group brawl to catching a thief.

- Description from Novelupdates