The Second Coming of Gluttony - Side Story 9. Shadow

“She was supposed to be silent. She chose chaos instead.”At thirteen, Lorraine vowed to a boy, “I’ll be your poison. I’ll be your blade in the shadows. I’ll live for you.”The catch? She was supposed to be mute and deaf.The bigger catch? He was a hostage prince with no power.Raised in a household where her father adored her perfect half-sister Elyse, Lorraine was thrown into a political marriage with Prince Leroy. Unfortunately, he liked Elyse too. Of course he did.Lorraine played the role of the forgotten wife, but still gave it all. Loyalty, time, and space. The Silent Crown, they called her. Fitting, really. No one expected anything from her. Especially not betrayal.He came back from the war with a mistress, who was a living shadow of his first love.That was Lorraine’s breaking point. Divorce? Not allowed. Staying? Not an option.So, she gave herself one month. One month before she vanished from Vaeloria, from the life that had chewed her up and smiled while doing it.But before she left?She wanted revenge.On the father who put her through hell.On the sister who took her place.On everyone who hurt her and laughed at her.And continuing with… an affair… with Leroy.Yes, you read that right. Lorraine started a secret affair with her own husband. In the shadows. As someone else. Masked. Daring. Desired.And for the first time in her life, she was powerful.He doesn’t know it’s her.And she doesn’t care to correct him.She’ll ruin him with pleasure.Then leave him with regret.That was the plan.The kingdom has no idea what’s coming. The Silent Crown has stopped waiting to be loved. Now, she wants war. And she’ll watch it all burn from the shadows.

Jack Wilson spent his life in a hospital bed — betrayed by his family, forgotten by the world, and kept alive only by the one person he trusted.Then that person put a knife in his chest.He wakes up somewhere else entirely. In a body that can stand. That can fight. That hasn't seen daylight in years.He's inside Savage Awakening, a fantasy VR world he escaped into during every waking hour of his illness.Except it isn't a game anymore.Jack reawakens in the body of a third-rate villain.A Noble Vampire with magic powerful enough to reshape kingdoms — and a hidden curse called A Villain's Fate that guarantees he dies before the story ends.But Jack isn't the Vampire.... He wouldn't die because of some measly 'Villains Fate'Jack knows this world better than anyone alive. He knows every death flag, every hidden mechanic, every secret the game's creators buried in the lore.He also knows the true villain isn't him.The question is whether a man who never had a future can survive long enough to steal one.

David wakes up in a world of steam rifles and supernatural blades, evil rituals and mysterious paths. After a blood ritual gone wrong, he faces certain death at the claws of monsters.To survive, he makes a forbidden choice: graft the arm of an evil god onto himself.[Limb Grafting Ritual Complete]Now David can devour the limbs of anything he kills—monsters, beasts, even gods—grafting their powers onto himself. Each new arm grants him devastating abilities: crush skulls with a divine corpse's hand, tear through armor with monster claws. Who knows what horrors await in stronger prey?He hunts in the darkness. Devours the darkness. Seals the forbidden. Becomes the forbidden.They call him a hunter of monsters, but the truth is simpler—he's becoming the thing they should fear most.