Memoirs of the Returnee - Chapter 14: Memory (3)

“World conquest was never part of the plan.”Yu Chen was just an ordinary programmer, slaving away at his desk, fixing bugs for a popular kingdom-building game.His life was a cycle of endless work, sleepless nights, and little appreciation. One fateful night, while struggling to fix a game-breaking bug that granted players an absurd amount of upgrade points, his exhausted heart gave out.But death wasn't the end for Yu Chen. He awoke in a world strangly familiar... he had transmigrated into the very game he had been working on, now inhabiting the body of a notorious tyrant emperor, Arkanos Bloodbane, whose empire was on the brink of destruction.Surrounded by enemies, with rebellions simmering within and war on every front, Yu Chen, now Arkanos, quickly realizes the gravity of his situation.But to his shock, he discovers that he still has access to the game's system interface—complete with the million upgrade points from the bug he had tried to fix!With his knowledge of game mechanics, strategic mind, and a wealth of upgrade points, Arkanos sets out to turn the crumbling empire into an unstoppable force. He begins by summoning legendary heroes, deploying advanced technologies never before seen in this world, and revolutionizing his military and infrastructure.As he pushes his empire to greatness, Arkanos must navigate the treacherous politics of the imperial court, fend off treacherous factions, and outmaneuver the rival nations that seek to destroy him. But with each victory, he realizes that this world is not just a game—it's his new reality. The stakes are higher, the dangers more real, and the consequences of failure more dire than ever.[Reminder, contented intended for mature audiences.]

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.

For a million worth of contract, she became a surrogate mother.

He was the chief executive of the Empire and she was of lowly birth. With her adoptive father’s business falling into crisis, she agrees to his contract.

She gave birth to twins: the older brother is healthy, while the younger brother didn’t breathe out. Fulfilling the contract with a huge monetary sum as the reward, she disappeared from his eyes.

Six years later – he was still the cold high-profile president, but when she is accidentally imprisoned in the cage of his golden birds he pressured her harder and harder: “Woman, do not think you can escape my hands!”

The old-fashioned man: “Mu Yazhe, you’d better leave her alone, this is the child’s mother!” The man becomes frightened, questioning the reason this child’s features bears such resemblance to…

Cairn is a prince who is already tired of ruling. Faced with an imminent coronation and an overbearing father, he wants nothing more than to drown his responsibilities in cheap liquor and poor decisions. With the help of his sister, he hatches a plan to escape the clutches of the throne once and for all. It all goes terribly wrong, and Cairn finds his priorities shifting in the face of unimaginable tragedy. The change of heart comes too late, however, and Cairn dies. He reawakens to find himself transported ten years in the past. He immediately begins to plan for the future, only to discover his killer has somehow followed him. To succeed, Cairn must unite the kingdom and discover the motivation of his killer, using as many tries as it takes. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++I exhausted pretty much every time loop story ever written and decided to write my own. You'll see a few similarities here between this story and some existing stories, at least initially. There's a lot of inspiration drawn from both MoL and Re:Zero, though in terms of pathos and darkness, this story leans more towards the latter. Be warned, it is something of a slow burn. The main character will grow and become powerful, but a theme of this story is that power comes slowly and often at great cost.