Artifact Reading Inspector - Chapter 26: Winner of the Auction (3)

In the Kingdom of Zarethrone, justice isn’t served by a blade or exile it’s served through pleasure.A land where one can escape death... if they satisfy the desires of royalty. Where punishment comes in the form of seduction, and the King's rule is wild, wicked, and erotic.Prince Kaelith, the only heir to the throne, is forbidden from lying with any man.In a kingdom ruled by lust, his desire for a man is the only crime he must never commit. But when secrets swirl, forbidden hearts awaken, and his body begins to crave what the law denies… how long can he obey the rules of his father’s kingdom?Hale is a poor, rebellious son of a village blacksmith. He didn’t expect to catch the eye of Prince Kael. And he didn’t expect Kael’s gentle hands, stolen glances, or whispered promises in the dark.But falling in love with the prince is illegal as a Man. Forbidden. Deadly.As their hidden romance grows under royal eyes, from royal chambers filled with whispered moans to courtroom punishments that ignite passion, every chapter drips with sin, secrets, and the battle between pleasure and power.In Zarethrone, no one is truly innocentAnd pleasure is the only way to survive.Warning: This story contains mature themes, erotic punishments, LGBTQ+ relationships, and royal affairs not suited for readers under 18.If you're ready for a royal fantasy like no other, add to your library, leave a review, and join the journey of His Majesty’s Secret.

He Lang died by his own hands for the sake of his imperial younger brother’s ambition, whom he loved. He was offered to be reborn in exchange for giving up his past romantic feelings. Reborn without the burden of his romantic feelings, he brings with him a manual to new worlds. He wholeheartedly followed the instructions of the manual to complete the tasks, not knowing that the originally slag gong was blackening…
He pleaded to his affectionate Emperor brother to release him, he pleaded to the paranoid prisoner next door, but until the end he remained baffled.
In the end, he discovered that the full name of the manual was – “Slag Shou Cultivating Manual”
Σ (っ ° ° °;) っ!

- Description from Novelupdates

Jiang Chen had unexpectedly found himself thrust into a world of cultivation, stepping into the role of a core disciple within a famed sect. Fated to be the villain, his future loomed with calamity. He had plotted against the protagonist, crippling his dantian and leaving him a disgraced outcast teetering on the edge of expulsion. Were it not for an unexpected twist, Jiang Chen’s part might have ended as a mere footnote in the protagonist’s glorious tale. Fully aware of his precarious position, Jiang Chen’s lips curled into a sly grin. Alone, he mused: ’Is the protagonist powerful? Without a doubt.’ ’But will I tremble in fear? Absolutely not.’ ’Why? Because I have the Immortal Great Villain System!’ ’Wait... there’s more than one protagonist?’ ’Well, isn’t that just perfect?’ With a determined glint in his eyes, Jiang Chen declared to himself, ’As the ultimate Great Villain, I will defy the will of Heaven and seize my place at the summit!’

In her last life, Qu Zhi tried her best to be a good wife who was sensible and did not cause trouble, a filial and good daughter who helped her family, and a good mother who accompanied her children. However, Qu Zhi worked hard and suffered all her life. When she was about to die, she realized that in the end, all she got back for her hard work were complaints. Her husband complained that she was an idle, rich wife all day long who wasn’t satisfied with her happiness at home, and that she was a greedy woman.

But after decades of marriage, her husband had a firm, deadly hold on all her money, and she didn’t even have a dime to her name, nor a property to call her own. Every time she asked for money, he would trample all over her self-esteem. Her husband’s cold and sarcastic words made her unable to lift her head, and his friends would demean her while drinking wine, making her tremble with anger. This man had once said he would take care of her, yet he turned a blind eye! Those people focused on her happiness as a topic, and made a joke out of it.

Even her three children resented her for her uneven love towards everyone, and their relationship only became more strained as time passed. She had spent her whole life as a loner, and she had nothing. Lying on the operation table, Qu Zhi thought that if she could do it all over again, she wouldn’t be a housewife. She wouldn’t have given her second daughter away, and she wouldn’t take care of her blood-sucking relatives.

She wouldn’t marry her indifferent, cold husband either! When she next opened her eyes, she was back to twenty years in the past. Her eldest daughter was still in elementary school, and her second daughter had been in her belly for several months…