Unsheathed - Chapter 23: Shade of the Locust Tree

“Your Highness, there’s something I’d really like for my birthday.”

“What is it?”

“Will you promise to listen?”

Then the man blatantly laughed.

But who would point out his arrogance – a young Northern Duke who’s not even afraid of the Emperor? He could even get a throne if he wished for it.

But it was just a sweet lover’s birthday wish.

“Alright. I swear.”

So, Juliet spoke lightly,

“Please break up with me. I don’t love you anymore.”

A fiance just for show. A succession of meaningless nights.

Now is the time to end seven years of unrequited love.

Starting from today, I am retired. But what should I be doing? I neither have the skills, nor the mind to do business, my only advantage is this pair of hands which have taken this world. What a headache…

Note: The usage of the term “retired” here doesn’t mean retiring from old age, work etc. It’s a specific term to refer to not involving oneself in the affairs of a certain society.

- Description from Novelupdates

Hunger, poverty, and death are the inevitable fate of those who live within the mist, a territory dominated by monsters where sunlight never reaches. With only one eye and missing an arm, daily suffering was all Lily could expect. In a world where the strong rule over the weak, she faces aggression and abuse every day, learning in the harshest, most painful way that kindness doesn’t exist.However, everything changes when she encounters a sentient metamorph, a nameless monster, wounded and abandoned by its pack. Together, they discover that perhaps they don't have to face this cruel world alone. Now, with a companion willing to risk everything to protect this bond, Lily, the girl who had lost everything, finds a new reason to live and fight.

Freyah Lima knew death all too well, but waking up five hours before the apocalypse gave her a second chance. Armed with memories of the past, she races against time to prepare. Yet, when she reaches her parking lot, she finds something-or someone-that shouldn't exist.A man stands there: silver hair, ragged clothes, and a translucent screen hovering above his head.[Florence PlaridelRole: Third Male Lead of the Novel PrimroseAbility: Healing and SwordmanshipFate: Unknown]Florence Plaridel-the half blood third prince, the unrequited lover, a skilled healer and swordsman from the last novel Freyah read before her death. In Primrose, he managed to escape before his execution due to treason, then said his farewell to the female lead, telling her he won't bother her anymore. After that, nothing was mentioned anymore about him.But now he's here. In her world. On the eve of its destruction.Freyah doesn't know how or why a fictional character has appeared, but one thing is certain: the apocalypse will rewrite the world, and Florence's unexplained presence could change everything.As survival becomes a race against fate, Freyah must decide: is Florence the key to saving this world, or a sign that its ending has already begun?The forgotten prince has returned-and with him, the rules of fate are no longer absolute.