Civil Servant in Romance Fantasy - Chapter 264: New Year’s Ball (4)

Cairn is a prince who is already tired of ruling. Faced with an imminent coronation and an overbearing father, he wants nothing more than to drown his responsibilities in cheap liquor and poor decisions. With the help of his sister, he hatches a plan to escape the clutches of the throne once and for all. It all goes terribly wrong, and Cairn finds his priorities shifting in the face of unimaginable tragedy. The change of heart comes too late, however, and Cairn dies. He reawakens to find himself transported ten years in the past. He immediately begins to plan for the future, only to discover his killer has somehow followed him. To succeed, Cairn must unite the kingdom and discover the motivation of his killer, using as many tries as it takes. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++I exhausted pretty much every time loop story ever written and decided to write my own. You'll see a few similarities here between this story and some existing stories, at least initially. There's a lot of inspiration drawn from both MoL and Re:Zero, though in terms of pathos and darkness, this story leans more towards the latter. Be warned, it is something of a slow burn. The main character will grow and become powerful, but a theme of this story is that power comes slowly and often at great cost.

“When I left you, it wasn’t because I was materialistic.”

“I know.”

“He doesn’t love me. I already broke up with him.”

“I know.”

“You knew? I didn’t know you were still so concerned about me…”

“I know because he and I are now a couple.”

This is a story about how a poor loser turned into a tall, handsome and rich guy and snatched his ex-girlfriend’s current boyfriend away.

- Description from Novelupdates

At the age of ten, Jiang Qi had black hair, shallow pupils, and a pale, delicate appearance. He often got injured, with blood flowing from his head. He was the son of a ‘notorious’ mu*derer in Chen Kong Alley, and people cursed him, saying that he had vile blood running in his veins. Except for Zhi Qi, no one paid him any attention.Zhi Qi often cried while bandaging his wounds, her voice soft as she asked, “Why do you always get hurt? Does it hurt a lot?”Jiang Qi smiled, the cold and rebellious boy appearing particularly obedient in front of her: “If you comfort me, it won’t hurt anymore.”By the time he reached high school, he had become the most famous madman, cold and ruthless in all Lin Lan. Zhi Qi remembered Jiang Qi once saying that most of his life was lived like a dog. He would rather have everyone fear him than let anyone bully him.Even though everyone feared him, Zhi Qi was not afraid.Unfortunate people spend their entire lives healing from childhood, and Zhi Qi wanted to heal Jiang Qi with her own efforts. She would make a promise to him on the rooftop of the school, where he brought her to the top: “Jiang Qi, take care. When I reach the legal age, I can marry you.”The boy’s response was a faint smile, his gaze clear and clean like the stars in the sky, filled with rare yearning for the future.Zhi Qi didn’t know that a simple promise saved Jiang Qi’s life, pulling him out of hell.Unfortunately, ‘redemption’ has an expiration date. When the clock strikes twelve for Cinderella, he remains the sick dog with nothing.A crazy boy, and all the sweet names in his obscure life are called ‘Zhi Qi’.

Riven was nothing but a powerless runt until necromancers razed his village and butchered his sister before his eyes. As his blood soaked the dirt, his Sigil ignited, granting him a gift. He can die and reform, a cycle that resets with every rank he climbs.But fate wasn’t done screwing him.In the catacombs beneath the ruins, he found the Death Ledger—a death contract that bound him against his will to hunt those who’ve cheated death across dimensions. Historical legendary heroes and villains.From the noble King Arthur to the conqueror Genghis Khan and the fabled king of Uruk, Gilgamesh, together with Ivan the Terrible and Vlad the Impaler.Every mission is a gamble. Fail once, and the Ledger brands him a death-cheater, turning him into prey for the same immortal fugitives he hunts. And the reward? He gets to keep them as his undead summons.His enemies will not stop coming. They want the Ledger, the Sigil, his power. To survive, he will wield death itself, growing stronger with every soul he claims, because in a world this savage, only the relentless rise.[-Congratulations, you have successfully killed Alexander the Great and claimed him as your summon...you can start on the path of evolution-] The words, scrawled in blood, burned across the page of the Death Ledger.