Crazy Duke and Fallen Queen - Chapter 13 - His Duchess

A calculating merchant of noble birth lives a comfortable life managing his guild's business at the Imperial Academy—until lightning strikes him, leaving him with prophetic visions of a disastrous future. In these visions, he's expelled from his family, branded a traitor who aids demons, and worst of all, becomes a penniless beggar. When the supposed “protagonist” of these prophecies enrolls at the academy, he realizes his countdown to ruin has begun. Now he must use his foresight to rewrite a story where he's cast as a third-rate villain, all while navigating ancient dungeons, demonic threats, and the troublesome “hero” who might be the key to changing his fate.#MoneyIsEverything

She died in her prime as the Queen of Song.

After being reincarnated, she becomes a simple trainee.

Losing her former glory? It doesn’t matter—no one can compete with her voice as a beautiful singer.

Mocked by her lowly birth? It doesn’t matter—her true identity is enough to make the whole world tremble.

She owes huge debts? It doesn’t matter…

A powerful boss once whispered to her, “Your debt will disappear if you become my woman.”

But the proud her would reply, “I’m sorry. I would sell my art, but not myself.”

- Description from Novelupdates

They say opposite attracts, that's a lie. Opposites kill each other!When a hot blood meets another hot blood, things are bound to get burnt.That is exactly what happens when the pompous and prideful elven princess, Neriah of the Avelah Kingdom is forced to marry the brash dragon Prince, Barak of the Trago Kingdom.Neriah's goal is to someday break away from her marriage and run away with the love of her life, Lyle of the Niles. While Barak will do everything to keep her as a wife.Neriah is certain she's in love with another, but she's also certain that no one can ignite the kind of passion her husband brings. Her husband who she hates more than anything.Can the flames of passion be drawn from hate? Can that same passion burn down the walls of lies, betrayal, and hurt? Can its ashes transcend into love?Excerpt“I am a rose, a beautiful flower, delicate and precious! But you my dear sir are nothing but the thorny stem! Prickly, dangerous and very harmful!” ranted Neriah while poking his chest with her index finger.“Well you seem to forget one important detail, my love.” He calmly grabbed her poking hand.“And what would that be, my fine sir?”“That the thorny stem and the rose grow together. The delicate rose and the prickly thorn, they belong together my dear.”“You—”“And no amount of ranting and raging will change that. You think I want to keep a witch like you? You are a pain in the neck. If I am a thorn then you are a piece of fish bone stuck inside my neck. I cannot swallow and I can not spit it out! I just have to bear it!”“You insolent bastard! Do you mean to say I am a burden!”“Well you are no precious prize, are you?”And that was it, she threw herself at him with her claws ready to mar his face, but he was quicker and he caught both her hands with one of his own and pressed her heaving chest upon his. Golden eyes stared deep into hers. They were as green as the fresh leaves on an orange tree.His fingers caressed her face, “You might not be a precious prize, but by the heavens, you are mine.” And his lips fell on hers, and once again, another argument was drowned.

He Yuan had accidentally caused his own death. He had no idea he was even dead until he suddenly woke up on the hard floor of an empty room.

As he tried to get his bearings right, a strange guy suddenly popped out of thin air and he was offered a job.

The job offer granted him eternal life with the alternative being reincarnation. Most would hastily choose to be reincarnated so they can start a new life but not He Yuan.

He was skeptical, why would anyone want reincarnation? Once you reincarnated 'you' cease to exist. He didn't care about what people said about starting afresh, gaining new memories and all that.

All he knew was that once a person reincarnated, they get thrown into a different environment, different family, meet new people and in short became a different person entirely.

What scared He Yuan the most was losing his own thoughts and hence, awareness of his current self and so, he chose to accept the job.

What did the job entail? He carried out tasks given to him by people who were called 'leasers.' They were called this because they leased out their bodies to 'taskers' for a period of time to help set their crooked lives straight.

What the leasers didn't know was that the taskers got into realms and helped them so they( taskers) could focus on their own main tasks which was world/realm balance.

These realms had 'special ones' who siphoned the luck out of it. Luck was the binding force of these realms so without it, the realms would begin to break apart and deteriorate into unlivable hells.

So in essence, leasers gave put their bodies and 'payment' in the form of soul energy, taskers helped out the leasers while balancing the realms and the realms become stable once more.

Pretty straightforward right? Yes.

But can someone tell He Yuan why these world was so full of hypocrites, Mary sue and Gary stu characters who thought it was excusable to do horrible things just because they were in love?

He Yuan grit his teeth. If you want to be in love, then be in love, was there any need to use others as stepping stones?!

He rolled up his sleeves and bounced forward. Just you wait as I teach you all a valuable lesson!