Echoes of Ice and Iron - Chapter 13: The Weight of Farewell

2011. That was when earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, changing thousands of lives.And Kobayashi Yuki is just one of them.A month ago, he was just a normal boy, graduating from a small middle school in Fukushima and was excited to go to the high school. However, the disaster changed his life. He lost both parents, not because they died, but because they were still missing until now.He lost his home. He lost his friends. He lost his school. He lost everything.Having no choice, he moved to Tokyo, to a small, new orphanage to accommodate victims of the disaster who didn't have any home or wanted to change their lives in the biggest city in Japan. In his mind, all he wanted to do was enter a normal high school, do a part-time job, make some money to help the orphanage, and maybe if he were lucky enough he could be admitted into a good university with a scholarship.However, one challenge from the volleyball team and one half-Italian blonde boy turned everything upside down. Now, he was trapped inside the crazy team, being dragged into the mess.Inter-High.National Tournament.Volleyball.Those three words kept spinning around his life as he entered a crazy high school life. Can he strive in the place where he was unfamiliar with? Would he be a good volleyball player? And what does the future hold for him?

Yuuta was the weakest, most average guy on Earth—barely surviving college, working a part-time job, and raised in a quiet orphanage with no real family to call his own. But everything changed the night he had a vivid dream... of marrying a stunning, powerful Dragon Queen from another world.He woke up thinking it was just a dream. Until she showed up in his room—with wings, horns, and a daughter who calls him Papa.Turns out, it wasn’t a dream. And now Yuuta’s life is anything but normal.With half her power sealed, the Dragon Queen—Erza—is stuck living in the human world, adapting to cramped apartments, dishwashing shifts, and the chaos of Earth. Yuuta, once a lonely soul, suddenly finds himself with a family, a responsibility, and feelings he never knew he was capable of.As fatherhood, monsters, magical secrets, and mysterious enemies creep into his life, Yuuta must rise—not as a hero, but as a man who has something worth protecting.

[Warning: This book contains Strong Language and Mature Content]On her eighteenth birthday, Ravenna felt the weight of exile as she was outlawed from her home because she could not shift to a werewolf, a mark of shame in their world that revered power. Away from all the ridicules and hate, she had at least a more peaceful life, until a beautiful storm knocked at her door. Deceived by its enchanting waves, Ravenna welcomed it with open arms until she was swept away into the deepest depth of the ocean of love. Being a daughter of an alpha, that was not supposed to happen even if she was not living in the pack anymore. Falling in love with the king of darkness.Alaric! He is the epitome of danger. But then, she turned his life upside down. From a heartless man to an obsessive lover. All he wished was to keep her with him. Even if it meant chaining her to himself. Whether what he felt was infatuation, desire or... he just would never ever let her go. Let no man or beast separate him from what he had claimed and marked; else they would face his unceasing wrath.****************“Am of no use to you, why do you still insist on keeping me?” She just wanted to hear him say it. That he loved her as much as she did. She was becoming more desperate as days went by, maybe more than desperate to the extent of destroying herself in this love.Alaric paused and kept his laptop aside. He held her hand and brought her in front of him before pulling her to his lap.Silently, he sniffed her neck and licked it, then replied, “Because I want to.” He continued his actions, and his hands were already moving under her dress caressing her thighs.Ravenna took a deep breath trying to stop herself from diving into pleasure as always. “Will you ever say it?” Her voice came out as a low yearning plead and with his advanced hearing ability, Alaric did not miss a word.“Say what?” His hand reached her pant ready to tear it apart.“That you love me.” Her words made him pause abruptly before looking at her. As usual, his eyes were blank with no hint of emotions making Ravenna feel like she was just fooling herself. For howlong could she endure this?“Do I?” He asked not tearing his gaze away from her eyes that were already tearing up.

The pessimistic and negative daughter of a concubine living in the ancient times thought – since life is so difficult, why should one invest serious effort in struggling to live?

The life of an ancient noble woman is often determined and controlled by her family. Moreover, one’s actions often implicate one’s entire family – thus, it is fairly common to see an unexpected calamity result in suffering borne by one’s whole family. Managing to live a good and successful life while retaining one’s dignity is simply too difficult to achieve.

Ah, living in the ancient times is simply too dangerous – we should all just sleep till we die.