Heart of Darkness - Chapter 154 - 121

The journey of a generation’s male empress started because of four words.

“Send a dowry escort.”

During the 19th year of Yuanqing, Qi Yunruo boarded a carriage and entered through a corner door of the second prince’s estate. Then, across the watery corridor, he gazed at the prince from afar.

Notes:

For aristocratic women in imperial China to marry into a family part of the upper nobility, they must be of the legitimate line and must also have an escort/dowry maid that married into that family. That escort would be a “ying” (媵) and could be considered a concubine.

- Description from Novelupdates

In this world, there are people who, despite having both talent and luck, always fall a step short of happiness, and Lin Xiaoguai, unfortunately yet fortunately, is among them.Born in the sixties as the beloved youngest daughter in her family, Lin Xiaoguai was both beautiful and intelligent. However, she was burdened with four mediocre and weak older brothers and four formidable sisters-in-law. Her family background was initially poor, dimming her prospects, but just at the right age, she encountered the restoration of the college entrance examination and succeeded in entering university. Her father, overjoyed by the occasion, went to sleep never to wake again, leaving Lin Xiaoguai devastated and ill. During her high fever and delirium, her greedy in-laws married her off. Fortunately, she met a decent man, but his family proved to be a relentless headache, ultimately costing her the ability to become a mother.Disheartened, she divorced and moved far away. On her own, she carved out a new world in the city, living comfortably and leisurely with money and leisure, but unexpectedly, in her later years, she suddenly acquired a powerful ability that should have appeared decades earlier. Thankfully, her broad-mindedness prevented her from succumbing to depression.When calamity struck, she thought her end had come but woke to find herself back at the beginning.Considering her past, Lin Xiaoguai realized that if she wasted this second chance, she would truly be foolish.

Ethan was betrayed, he was broken, left crippled by those he trusted most: Zachary and Ivy, the people who ruined his life. Stripped of everything, Ethan crawled through three grueling years in the abandoned depths of despair, desperate to regain what he lost.Until one final act of defiance opened the door to something greater.When Ethan completed a hidden quest, fate granted him a miraculous reward: a second chance.He awakens years in the past, on the eve of a revolution: the launch of Ethereal, the world's first fully immersive VR game and humanity’s obsession. Armed with memories of four years in Ethereal, he’s no longer the helpless pawn who lost everything.This time, Ethan knows every secret, every hidden quest, every exploit to climb back to the top. But when he steps into the game, the system unveils a shocking twist: a divine bloodline, legendary abilities, and a class no one believed could dominate.Ethan vows to rise once more, but this time, he knows where the paths of glory begin, where betrayal lurks, and where to find legendary treasures that will crown him king in this brutal new world.The stakes are higher than ever. Factions are forming, alliances are shattering, and the clock ticks toward an event that will rewrite reality itself.The weak will perish, and the strong will thrive.They betrayed him once.They won’t live to do it again.

After Le Yao Yao died in the modern world, her soul ended up in another girl’s body from an ancient era. Oddly enough, the body of the girl was wearing a eunuch outfit! Before Le Yao Yao could figure out how to escape, she was found and dragged to serve the legendary Prince Rui aka Leng Jun Yu.

Prince Rui was known to be ruthless and cruel. In addition, he hated women so much that none were allowed within five steps of his reach.

Will Prince Rui do anything to Le Yao Yao? Will Le Yao Yao try to escape from the Palace?