How to Survive as an Uchiha - Chapter 54 - From Hero to Zero to...?

“Block him.”“He's technically still my boss.”“Then block him with dignity.”The call ended again.And then started again.I let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a sob, then finally answered with the enthusiasm of a snail crawling through salt.“Yes, Mr. Walton?”“Have you changed your mind yet?”I collapsed onto the towel and gazed at the sky as though it might consume me entirely if I pleaded sweetly enough.“Do you ever take a break?” I asked, shielding my eyes with one hand.“You're avoiding the question.”“Because it's a dumb question.”He exhaled, the sound sharp and irritated even over phone. “It's not a dumb question. It's a business offer.”“It's a weird offer-one that I already said no to.”There was a brief pause, and I could practically hear him clenching his jaw through the speaker.“You are acting unreasonably.”“ Unreasonable?” I sat up. “I'm not the one drafting fake girlfriend contracts like it's a normal Tuesday.”“Isabella-”“Certainly not, Mr. Walton.” I mimicked his tone perfectly. “I told you I'm not doing it. You need to find someone else to play pretend with.”SYNOPSISIsabella Miller thought saying no to her boss’s fake dating offer was the end of the story.But Adrien Walton doesn’t take no—especially not when he’s convinced she’s a gold digger.Suddenly, her student loans are piling up, her father’s vet clinic is on the brink of eviction and her brother is about to be kicked out of college. Coincidence? She thinks not.Adrien Walton is calm, calculating—and he's just pulled every string to corner Isabella into the perfect position.Now she’s stuck choosing between pride and survival.So she agrees to his offer: be his fake girlfriend.No feelings attached. No drama. Just business.Or so she thought.“Conference Room B. Fifteen minutes,” he said, passing by without a glance.The folder he pushed across the table landed with a thud.I opened it. The contract. All of it.---Enemies to lovers? Check.Slow burn? Hmmnyea.Banter so sharp it might file your nails? Yes.Delicious workplace tension? Of course.Tension that could melt steel?Absolutely.Smut?? Wanna find out?Welcome to corporate romance warfare. There’s no escaping this contract.

Aries Aime Heathcliffe. A princess from the small kingdom of Rikhill was loved by all. With her beauty that was enchantingly demure and a wise mind, she had caught a lot of attention and captured the hearts of many. One of them was the dashing crown prince of the Maganti Empire.

Overcome by the desire to have her and his interest in the land of the small kingdom, the crown prince of the said empire would stop at nothing. The knights from the Maganti Empire marched across the masses and seized the four-hundred-year-old kingdom of Rikhill.

The kingdom of Rikhill fell into ruin overnight. The crown prince left no members of the royal family alive aside from his war trophy, Aries. After suffering in his hands, Aries found the perfect chance to escape.

That was when he took her to the world summit. A gathering of each sovereign from each kingdom and empire for peace talks.

There, she met the emperor of Haimirich, Eustass Silvestri Abel Bloodworth. Overwhelm by desperation, Aries begged him to take her in. It was too late when she realized that the man she asked for help was far more cruel, twisted, and downright diabolical than the crown prince for taking her as his… pet!

EXCERPT:

With a pair of crimson eyes hovering over her, Aries held her breath. When the corner of his lips curled up devilishly, she couldn’t react fast as he swiftly flipped their position. She only realized it when she was saddling him, gazing down at Abel, wide-eyed.

“No one is above me in this empire and even out — not even the law, but look at you,” he intoned with a devilish smirk. “Staring down on me… so daunting.”

Aries bit her lip, planting her palm on her inked chest. “Your Majesty…”

“Do you now understand the power you hold, darling?” Abel carefully wrapped his fingers around her wrist, chuffed by her reaction. “Only you, Aries, may go above me and the only person in this world who can look down on me. No one else.”

He raised an arm and ran his fingers through the side of her hair, settling his palm on the back of her head before he pulled her down until her face was a palm length away from him.

“You better use this at your own disposal,” he whispered, tilting his head as he lifted it up to claim what’s his. HER.

Meet Eustass Silvestri Abel Bloodworth, the sadistic tyrant, who reigned an empire with an iron fist. With his pet, Aries’ increasing presence in his boring, dark life, he was set to kill her. But alas, every time he thought of taking her life, he finds himself changing his mind.

The more he kept her by his side, the more it got harder to dispose of her. And the more he yearned for something deeper and darker... it was driving him insane.

With a secret he was keeping from her, what would Abel do if Aries found out about the rotting truth behind the empire and the emperor? Would he kill her? Or kiss her? Perhaps cage her?

And if she found out that Abel wasn’t just a normal human, would she try to escape? Or would she accept that he wasn’t just a demon incarnate?

In a complicated world that tainted them black, was love even possible to bloom between a pet and her master? Watch as these two play the dangerous and insane game of love and lust.

Who would be the master and the pet? Who was the prey? Read to find out more.

What is martial arts?Martial Arts has nothing to do with musical instruments, chess, calligraphy, painting, treasures or secret manuals, nor is there so much talk about being the best in the world. Martial Arts is a technique, a method that gives the weak a chance to draw their blades against the strong.What is chivalry (xiá)?Chivalry is not about romantic affairs, traditional culture, or being gentle, respectful, frugal, and compliant. Chivalry is violence, it's the bayonet forged by those driven to Mount Liang to use against tyrants.Cao Mo pledged with a dagger, (Returning to) Lu to invade. Zhuan Zhu entered with grilled meat, (Pacifying) Wu to usurp the throne. Brother Zhang cried in the market, avenging his lord by defiling a lavatory. Suicide by cutting one's own throat to seek justice, acting while concealing his sleeve. The tyrant of Qin seized souls, the coward gained courage.This is a martial artist's story.In the 1930s, a group of like-minded young people came together, striving to change the world.Then, two hundred years later, in a garbage landfill, Xiang Shan, the Progenitor of Cyber Martial Arts who had once rebooted heaven and earth, woke up reciting the name of his enemy, having lost all his memories.“Perhaps it's because I lost back then that the world has become what it is...”“So this time, I won't be defeated again!”This is the story of a person changing the world once more!

As the original heroine in the novel, Lin Yueqi’s life was made a complete mess by the traitorous female side leads: her top millionaire husband wanted to divorce her, her daughter became a villain, and the internet users wanted her to leave the entertainment industry.

Female side lead #1 brought her own magnificent and beautiful traitorous persona. Female side lead #2 transmigrated over and became the villain’s mother.

Female side lead #3 was even more extreme… In the end, her career and family were ruined and she died from excess of anger.

Lin Yueqi transmigrated to before the nightmares began, but she only had her memory up to when she was 17! She was dumbstruck. As an unfavorable heroine, Lin Yueqi found it more important to survive. She decided to give up her daughter and her top millionaire husband and retreat to being a stranger, staying far away from the goldfinger female side leads!

She spread rumors of her loveless marriage with her husband and how she picked up a child in order to swindle herself into a marriage. She decided to squander her luck with strangers and believed that she could almost successfully retreat from the heroine position when the negative news about her on the internet were cleared!

Her husband, Lu Ting, came looking for her with their daughter, saying sternly, “Madame Lu, we have a loveless marriage? That’s not what you were saying when we were in bed.”

Her daughter pursed her lips and sobbed, patting her stomach with her chubby hands. “Mummy, you said that you picked me up! This bun’s heart is aching!”

Lu Yueqi glanced at the little girl who hugged her stomach while crying, causing her heart to ache as well.

Heh. How could she have given birth to such… a cunning little girl?! She must’ve picked her up! She refused to be the stepmother!