MTL - From Soldier to Officer: A Game Addict’s Journey - Chapter 8 To the army, beating gongs and drums, enthusiastic veterans (for collection

[Welcome to the Magic Universe, a world where magical power reigns supreme.][Congratulations on awakening the Infinity Money System.][Feel free to splurge your money and prove to the entire universe that there's nothing money can't solve.][If there is, it simply means you don't pay enough money!]So, the show of your adventure begins![Detected: Host burned Forbidden rank Scrolls for warmth, rewarded with God rank bloodline: Heart of Origin!][Detected: Host used Temporal Shard to ripen grapes, rewarded with God rank talent: Master of Time!][Detected: Host fed Leaves of the World Tree to a rabbit, rewarded with Mythical Beast: Aetherlapis!][Dear Host, you now bought and own the entire Magic Universe.][Which universe would you like to conquer next?]Good, let’s move on![Ding! Abnormality detected.][Warning, Host, you are not the only system processor…]

[COMPLETE] Can a royal Romeo and Juliet find their happy ending?

Ayleth, Princess of Zenithra, is secretly trained in hand-to-hand combat, and collects swear words she doesn't know how to use. During the Festival of Peace, in which every royal son on the continent will be at the castle for a month, she is instructed by her parents to find a husband. Yet, Ayleth has never even been kissed—until the very first ball, when she meets the man in the Lion mask.

Etan is a seasoned warrior, and the Prince of Summitras. He attends the Festival hoping to find a powerful wife who will help him conquer the dark sorcery of their bloodsworn enemies, the Kingdom of Zenithra. But at the very first ball, he discovers the masked woman who captures his heart is the Heir to the evil empire.

Ayleth and Etan face an impossible battle. Will their love survive? Or will their parents' dark dealings keep them apart forever?

[Mature content. No sexual violence.]

******

“You…” She stepped back. Then back again, her mouth dropped open. “You… You cannot be…”

“I am,” Etan said, and his hair raked back as he pushed his mask off his handsome face. So handsome her heart raced.

His hair was ebony black, his skin a warm brown that threatened to fade in in the winter months. He stared at her with glittering green eyes, over high cheekbones and a noble nose, his jaw tight and shadowed this late in the day. His chin was high over the pillar of his neck that she’d just touched with its hard lines and steel strength, so different to her own. And his chest... She gasped and covered her eyes. She’d humiliated herself revealing her stupid, childish curiosity.

“No, Ayleth. This changes nothing.”

“How can you say that? It changes everything!” She was horrified to realize she was crying.

“Ayleth, please.” His voice cracked on the plea and she stared at him, shoving her mask up and off, despite how it would pull her hair out of the beautiful twist the maid had managed for her.

His eyes locked on hers and she couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe.

She had met her One. And he was the son of her bloodsworn enemy.

She stared at him as he stepped forward again, offering both hands, palm up. “Touch me,” he whispered. “Hold my hands. This is real, Ayleth. I don’t know how it happened, but this is real. Please don’t deny it.”

She couldn’t resist. She raised a trembling hand to his cheek, letting her palm catch on the scruff of his jaw. He blew out a breath and put his hand over hers, and that jolt that happened whenever they touched shivered through her again.

“Please, Ayleth.”

“I cannot deny it,” she whispered.

NightmaresCreatures that appeared from the unknown a millennium ago continuously threatened humanity, pushing and pressuring people who once inhabited it aside. These Entities brought the world into utter chaos, furthering their influence to what was once a land that belonged to its rightful owner.In the end, humanity was forced to adapt.They kept trying different ways to fend off the Nightmares, and the solution they finally settled on was… why not become one themselves?Cesar Sparrow, an unfortunate fellow born in an era full of corruption, horror, and the unknown, was desperately trying to escape from its clutches… until he found an enigmatic, dying eyeball that latched itself onto him.“Hehehe, what a great fellow you are,”“How are you talking—. Just what are you…?”The dying eye that latched itself to his empty, bleeding eye socket chuckled, its voice groggy as it answered.“What do you think am I? I’m just an old and weak Nightmare, Sparrow. Though, you can call me Eyes of Deceit. And I'll borrow your body for a moment if you won't mind. Hehe,”“No, why would I give you my body?! Get the fuck out!”Entrapping himself in a series of encounters, uncovering secrets that belong to the Nightmares… and the humanity wanted to remain hidden, Cesar Sparrow ventures into the unknown.To keep struggling, to keep resisting, to keep persevering… will all that be enough?Will he be finally the one to break the chains humans had found themselves in, ending a millennium of suffering? Or succumb to the curse of the Nightmares?

Elaine Monroe never meant to fall in love with him. She never meant for her heart to betray her like this. But as she watches him stand beside another, hand resting on the waist of the woman he’s meant to be with, she wonders if she was always destined to be the outsider.“You knew,” she says, voice barely above a whisper. “You knew how I felt.”His jaw tightens, but he doesn’t deny it. He never does.“It wouldn’t have changed anything,” he finally says.She laughs bitterly. “I know.”Loving him was always impossible. He belonged to someone else. To his family’s expectations. To a future where Elaine had no place.“Forget whatever you think you feel,” he tells her, voice firm, but there’s something unspoken in his eyes—something that makes it hurt even more. “It will never happen.”And yet, his gaze lingers, just for a second too long.Then there’s her best friend—the one who stands beside her when the world turns its back. The one who sees her pain without asking.“You don’t have to do this to yourself,” he says, handing her his jacket on a cold night. “You deserve more than waiting for someone who will never be yours.”She wants to believe him. She wants to move forward. But some loves are impossible to forget. Some wounds never truly heal. And some desires, no matter how forbidden, refuse to die._____“loving him best decision i ever made” Elaine“you are my world”