Burning The House Of Cards: taking revenge on my billionaire family - Chapter 55 - 54. Crumb Picking

A 21st-century tech manager, accidentally thrust into the body of Emperor Commodus—yes, the infamous villain played by Joaquin Phoenix—has one goal: not to die like him.Armed with his wits and a hyper-intelligent AI on a solar-powered laptop, he must navigate the treacherous politics of ancient Rome. Everyone, including his own sister, expects the arrogant, decadent tyrant. Instead, they find a calculating reformer. But as he tries to avert the fall of the empire, he discovers that being a “good” emperor might be even more dangerous than being the monster everyone is waiting for.

A powerless woman’s worst nightmare is marrying someone against her will. When those who are supposed to protect her betray her in the vilest of ways, Leonor is forced to marry a Duke known for his cold nature and repulsive appearance. After a miserable childhood, it shouldn’t have been a surprise to her that her future was never truly in her hands in the first place.Duke Desmond de Montclair was nobody before the war. He garnered the King’s favor by doing the impossible in battle. Unfortunately, any achievement is eclipsed by his appearance and unbearable personality. In a kingdom that idolizes beauty, there is no room for someone like him.At first, Leonor finds life with the Duke to be what she’s used to - walking on eggshells and never speaking what’s truly in her heart. Eventually, things slowly start to change as the Duke learns about the horrors she faced while living with her family. His power becomes the key to her revenge.However, in a moment where she feels cornered, Leonor confesses to the Duke that she’s in love with someone else. The progress she has made with the Duke comes crashing down around her.Will her magic abilities be enough to convince the Duke not to throw her out? If she can make herself useful to him, perhaps she can gain his sympathy somehow…

Asking help from the enemy was the last thing Samantha ever planned on doing, but who knew she would find her fate irrevocably sealed in the hands of a notorious Vampire Lord?In a world where Humans and Vampires have chosen to co-exist, the sacred orb of GreenHollow in the Northern Empire goes missing on a rainy night, right after the death of their ruler who was murdered in cold blood.It brought upon them an endless drought that can only be reversed when the sacred orb is found, and returned to its rightful place in the Empire.Ivan Chevalier, the heir and most feared son of the murdered Vampire King, has only two motives in life - to find his Father's perpetrator and behead him, his second motive is hunting down the sacred orb and restoring GreenHollow to what it used to be during his Father's reign.But when both motives lead him to the hands of his enemy's daughter, he has to choose between getting rid of her, or using her to his advantage by turning her into his blood slave.Samantha Dufort, a simple girl from EmptyHollow, is on the run with her younger brother after witnessing her Father being brutally murdered by a Vampire Lord.On the way, she gets abducted by slave traders.Forcefully separated from her younger brother, Samantha finds herself in a brothel, where she is trained to become a courtesan till she comes of age to be sold out.Her encounter with a mysterious man in white whom she referred to as her 'angel of death' saves her from a misery that only led Samantha into the cage of a Vampire Lords den.Tricked into becoming his puppet, Samantha tries to find different opportunities to escape the Vampire's den, and the Vampire Lord in person. But will she succeed when no one has ever left the Palace walls?Well, she was going to be the first to escape from these walls and find her missing brother.Twisted and trapped in the webs of Vampire politics interrelating with humans, Samantha discovers the main reason for her existence, a reason that could lead to changing the course of Empty Hollow. What happens when the Vampire Lord isn't the only darkness she has to run away from?