MTL - Lady Lin’s First-ever Journey to Immortality - Chapter 462 "hot pot" diplomacy

Year 24XX. With several hundred years of improvements, virtual reality has become more mature. It had gradually become humanity’s second world. Socializing, working, studying and other everyday things could all be done while sleeping.

“Zhong Nuannuan, your charges have been withdrawn. The courts have declared you innocent and pronounced you not guilty for murder. You can leave prison now. Your family is waiting for you in the waiting room outside.” Zhong Nuannuan was startled. She pushed the female prison guard to the side and ran toward the waiting room. She did not even bother to put on her shoes. If not for the icy feeling she felt at every step of the way reminding her that this was not a dream, Zhong Nuannuan would not have believed that she had resurrected.
As she burst through the doors and saw him again, she knew in her heart, that this time she would get it right. This time she would cherish him properly and hopefully, just hopefully, turn her own fate around.

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.

A powerless woman’s worst nightmare is marrying someone against her will. When those who are supposed to protect her betray her in the vilest of ways, Leonor is forced to marry a Duke known for his cold nature and repulsive appearance. After a miserable childhood, it shouldn’t have been a surprise to her that her future was never truly in her hands in the first place.Duke Desmond de Montclair was nobody before the war. He garnered the King’s favor by doing the impossible in battle. Unfortunately, any achievement is eclipsed by his appearance and unbearable personality. In a kingdom that idolizes beauty, there is no room for someone like him.At first, Leonor finds life with the Duke to be what she’s used to - walking on eggshells and never speaking what’s truly in her heart. Eventually, things slowly start to change as the Duke learns about the horrors she faced while living with her family. His power becomes the key to her revenge.However, in a moment where she feels cornered, Leonor confesses to the Duke that she’s in love with someone else. The progress she has made with the Duke comes crashing down around her.Will her magic abilities be enough to convince the Duke not to throw her out? If she can make herself useful to him, perhaps she can gain his sympathy somehow…