Evolution begins with an ant colony - Chapter 14: Bitter memories and a dark book

The jeers followed her like a persistent shadow. “Murderer!” the crowd screamed, their faces contorted in a grotesque parody of the adoration she once commanded.Just months ago, they had screamed her name, their voices a deafening roar as she shimmied across the stage, a beacon of light and pop perfection. Now, their cheers had morphed into venomous hisses, their eyes burning with a hatred that chilled her to the bone.Noelle clutched her lawyer's arm, his face a mask of grim determination. The cameras flashed, capturing her every move, every tremor of fear. The headlines screamed: “Pop Princess Plummets: Noelle Accused of Murder.” The irony wasn't lost on her. Her life, once a carefully constructed fairytale of fame and fortune, had become a grotesque tragedy.The trial was a circus. The whispers, the sneers, the relentless scrutiny – it was a constant assault on her senses. Her once loyal fans, the ones who'd plastered her face on their bedroom walls, now reveled in her downfall. They devoured every salacious detail, every whispered accusation, every tear she dared to shed.The verdict was a foregone conclusion. Guilty.Noelle watched the judge pronounce the sentence, her mind a whirlwind of disbelief and despair. Death by lethal injection.‘At least they did not give me the electric chair’ she thought to herself in a poor attempt at humor.Months later, a solitary figure knelt at her grave, the wind whipping at his hair. Rain lashed down, mirroring the tears that streamed down his face.“I'm sorry, Areum,” he sobbed, his voice hoarse with grief. “I'm so sorry I was too late.” He clutched a single, wilted rose, its petals stained crimson, a poignant reminder of the life that had been brutally extinguished.Noelle is a bright star who has the world at her feet, she feels no guilt about being the other woman coming between a husband and his wife. After all, Evan had been in love with her since they were teenagers. The only reason he married Ma-Ri was because his family demanded it, if he had a choice he would surely have picked her…When she gets wrongfully accused of murdering Ma-Ri, she loses everything and is sentenced to death, everyone including Evan turn against her and she is left to die a miserable death.She is reborn and this time she faces the humiliation of being the woman who is being cheated on. She is determined to end the cycle and not let the future she had seen come to pass, she decides to step out of the picture and focus on her career.In doing so, everything changes, Evan clings to her and refuses to let her go, a mysterious stranger who has been studying her also steps in and decides to fight for a chance to be with her.

DING![Ist Skill Devour Successful]______“They say a man's skills are honed over a lifetime, but what if he could devour them all in an instant?”Ryuen Takeru, a skilled, retired assassin, decides to pursue a better job that would keep him away from the dark life he once led.However, after a while, that peace was shattered when an unexpected train ride derailed reality itself, throwing him into a world and a life he had always hated.A world teetering on the brink of ruin, destroyed by an apocalypse as a result of the unending war between multiple races.Unfortunately, the post-apocalypse had already begun.Ryuen finds himself captured, exchanged, and made to serve kings of different nations.Yet fate had more in store for him.A devastating twist, capable of destroying or elevating him—the one thing he had overlooked as normal until the moment he was informed.A curse.Possible reincarnation?[Skill Devourer Activated: Plunder, Consume, Adapt, Evolve.]Nevertheless, for everything given, something must be taken—or perhaps sacrificed.

Being a wolfless hybrid was bad? Yes, but not as bad as being rejected by your groom three days before your wedding, in favor of your younger sister!~~~Sue was an outcast from birth, and she grew up stomaching ridicules and insults despite being a princess in starlight pack. Instead of wallowing in self pity, Sue strives for strength and soon becomes a strong fighter.Having been rejected multiple times for being the pack’s freak, Sue was over the moon when she unexpectedly gets accepted by her present mate whom she’s presently engaged to. However, when she’s rejected again, and is replaced by her sister this time, she believes all hope is lost for her, not knowing fate has something else in store for her.In a mission that’s supposed to kill her, she ends up coming across her mate in the monstrous enemy she was sent to capture, and by the end of it all, she discovers said mate has two brothers who’re also her mates, and not only were they willing to accept her, they forcefully took her along with them against her will, making Sue dislike and want nothing to do with them.Too bad they were stupidly hot and utterly breathtaking.Cursed because of the sins of their ancestors— Angelo, Landon and Damon lived as part monsters and part wolves, a deadly curse which would end up taking their lives if they didn't find their fated mate, the key to breaking the curse. Which was why as soon as they found her, there was no way they’d be letting her go, no matter what. Even though she was the daughter of their greatest enemy, even though she was wolfless, and even though she definitely wasn’t the fire breathing, powerful mate that was prophesied for them decades ago.~~~ | ~~~“I bet your nipples are hard right now. And are you wet between your legs as well? I should be able to smell it if I focus hard.” he husked out in a sultry voice, the dark eyes of his drinking me up and I wished the ground would open up to swallow me up at once.“N- no…” I managed to hurl out but he only laughed, then he leaned even closer and my heart lurched into my throat after his next words.“Why? You hate hearing the truth?” He demanded then I felt his large hand settle on my thigh.“I can check right now for you, to see if you’re dripping and making a mess of your little panties.”My cheeks felt so red, it felt like they might go up in flames at any moment from now.“A- are you crazy?” I managed after what felt like ages, while gaping at him as an immense amount of shock went through my entire body.He flashed me a dark grin, his fangs gleaming in the moonlight.“Couldn’t you tell?” He drawled and I let out a huff of disbelief.This man wasn’t just crazy. He was mad. Him and his two brothers.

Reina Suzuki was an overworked office worker—until she died and woke up as Lavinia Devereux, the infamous villainess princess of the Elarion Empire.She knows how this story ends: she’ll drink poison and die. A painless, easy death. So why bother changing fate? Villainy, revenge, redemption—sounds like way too much work. She decides to do absolutely nothing and let the story play out.But her terrifying father, Emperor Cassius Devereux, won’t ignore her like he’s supposed to. He watches her, questions her, and—worst of all—starts acting like he actually cares.Lavinia just wanted a quiet villainess retirement… so why does everything keep changing?