Steel and Sorrow: Rise of the Mercenary king - Chapter 513: Burning a banner(1)

Husband, Xue Duan has been out of date for three months, do you not love me anymore ? TvT

On Shangyuan’s Lantern Festival , a banquet was held in the Imperial Garden. Officially, it was in the honor of the monarch and his officials, but in fact, it was to select a princess consort for His Highness the prince Dingbei.

At the banquet, Ying Ying, the daughter of Marquis Chengen, bowed down and offered a song, Clouds Over the Rivers Xiao Xiang. At the end, she softly said : “The official’s daughter has no talent ; I’ve made a display of my poor skills”

A man dressed black brocade who sat at the center coldly interrupted her “Since you know you have no talent, then don’t show yourself.”

Everyone turned silent, with no one who dared to refute. The young miss of the Ming family who was sitting at the last seat of the table took a glance from afar, only to feel that His Royal Highness King Dingbei was rude and arrogant to the extreme, really not a kind person.

Later, the bridal chamber was full of candles, the wine was exchanged, and the red candles were shining.

The young miss of the Ming family shivered when helping him undress.

The man suddenly talked, asking her to play the tune Wild Geese Come to the Sand Dune.

She pretended to be courteous and happy, but she was so nervous that she forgot to refuse, so she only tried : “Since I am not talented, then… why… why show myself?”

She raised her eyes to glance at him, but saw a pair of eyes that seemed to refrain from smiling, “You are not untalented, this prince actually thinks, my wife is very beautiful.”

- Description from Novelupdates

The devil would love you only in his own way: “Remember, don’t look at me, don’t hold me, and don’t kiss me! Turn your face away, as long as you lie down obediently and quietly! ” Just lie down obediently? What did he take her for? An inflatable wife?

- Description from Novelupdates

In the year 2090, technology has advanced to the point where Simulation Boxes, (Sim Box for short) are common place, allowing for the user to link up their brain's neural network to a full dive Simulation. While initially used for educational purposes, recently a large gaming company, Averon, released a fully fledged immersive MMORPG simulation where users can become anyone they desire, level up, choose their class, and become a hero or a villain. The name of this simulation is The Shattered World Online.

Eli Winters had no interest in playing it. His father, a jobless bum who spent his entire life playing games in the hope of becoming a famous player or streamer, was able to use the release of The Shattered World Online to gain wealth and fame, quickly becoming the number one player and a household name as the game took the world by storm. He immediately abandoned Eli and his mother in favor of being with someone from his guild, despite his mother having worked two jobs to support them and raise Eli by herself. Eli had nothing but spite for his father and the game.

When Eli's best friend convinces him to try out the game, his father's fame begins to interfere, culminating in him being singled out and shunned by his peers, and his father offering to pay for his university tuition in return for Eli hiding their relationship and quitting the game. Instead of complying with his father's wishes, Eli decides to prove to everyone how useless a guy his father is by challenging him that if Eli is able to surpass him in the game world he must delete his account and quit his streaming career. His father accepts the challenge believing his son to be useless at games - but Eli will soon show him just how ambitious a spiteful person can be.

After years of intense development and a thrilling beta phase, Ashen World Online has finally opened its doors to the public—instantly capturing global attention.At the center of the excitement is Blake, once the proud and formidable leader of the Cerberus guild—until his relentless ambition led to a crushing defeat in the beta’s grand finale. Now, as the official release dawns, he returns with two legendary powers: Spiritual Blacksmith and Limitless Enchanter. Bestowed with the power to forge entire armies, fortresses, and legendary gear, Blake can forge far more than just his own fate.But the question remains: has he truly changed, or will the lure of ultimate creation pull him back into the same ruthless path?