Odyssey of the Renegade Sovereign - Chapter 10: No Pain, No Gain

It’s been 11 years since I’ve lived for others and not for me.

The moment I cried out wanting to get away from my exhausting life, I opened my eyes in the body of some Count’s 20-year-old daughter.

Since this happened, I decided to live my life freely as a single woman.

But…

“I need a lady to act as my fake wife for a certain period of time.”

“A contract marriage?”

“The term is one year. When the time is up, I’ll give you divorce with no strings attached.”

The Duke of the Empire whom I had happened to meet at a ball was hitting on me.

Turns out he’s no other than the Emperor’s beloved brother, Duke Scade!

Hold on, it’s just going to end in a clean divorce with no strings attached?

“You should also give me alimony. Give me one of the best lands of the Ducal household with 10 years’ worth of profit.”

“…..What?”

“If you don’t want to do that, then we cannot get married.”

This time I’m going to live a life taking care of the things I need first!

***

“I’ll escort you since it’s late.”

Where to? My bedroom is just around the corner.

“Tonight, I’ll do my best.”

No, I don’t need you to do that.

“Did you just look at that man?”

Excuse me, Duke, you said it’s for a limited time only, so why do you keep obsessing over me?

The pessimistic and negative daughter of a concubine living in the ancient times thought – since life is so difficult, why should one invest serious effort in struggling to live?

The life of an ancient noble woman is often determined and controlled by her family. Moreover, one’s actions often implicate one’s entire family – thus, it is fairly common to see an unexpected calamity result in suffering borne by one’s whole family. Managing to live a good and successful life while retaining one’s dignity is simply too difficult to achieve.

Ah, living in the ancient times is simply too dangerous – we should all just sleep till we die.

- Description from Novelupdates

In the year 2139, the world changed. Fundamentally and irrevocably.

Everything happened too quickly. The sky cracked like an egg and armored dinosaur-like monsters lurched out of the fissure. The split, though small at first, quickly widened. Within a few short hours, these beasts had overrun the world.

Countries, even those who had been enemies for centuries, sounded a global alarm. Political differences were cast aside as humans scrambled to find a solution—any solution—to what became known as the Great Disaster 1.0.

Human experimentations began, first in reluctance, then in earnest. As days turned into weeks and weeks into months, failure rates remained high. Desperate for results, global authorities started turning a blind eye to how experimental subjects were sourced.

Countless victims were kidnapped and trafficked to state-run laboratories. Shi Tian was but one of them. But unlike those who died nameless, in pain, and unrecognizable, he had the fortune of surviving after being injected with humanity’s last hope—an integrated chip.

Except… the chip remained dormant. It seemed that certain circumstances must be met before the chip could be activated. What those circumstances were, even the scientists in charge could not answer.

……………………………………………………………

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