Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night - Chapter 265: Escaping Hawthorne

❗[Current Writing Contest-WebNovel Spirity Awards 2025 Fantas]❗Flain grew up in a futuristic world. When he was born his parents didn't want him because he didn't live up to their expectations and so he ended up very badly.Flain was employed as a slave. He was forced to mine radioactive iron deep in the mines. It was drilled into his head that he existed only to obey orders.Young Flain was obedient. He doubted some of it but knew nothing else. For years, he never saw a single ray of light; light was only spoken of among the others as a legend.The routine was the same: in the morning, he would take a nutrient tablet and water. Then he would mine all day, sleep eight hours, and repeat.Flain worked like this from childhood until he was ten years old. He even found a friend, but that friend died of radiation poisoning right in front of Flain. Flain couldn't stop mining. He kept mining with tears streaming down his face.Before bed, Flain cried. “I will become the strongest. I will kill you all, and you will become my slaves.”Flain stopped crying, stared blankly at the rocky ceiling, then looked ahead. A manic grin appeared on his face, one that would often adorn it from that moment on.At the age of ten, Flain was assigned to a military camp due to his endurance in the mines and his survival against radiation.In the camp, Flain was trained. The regime was much looser; he even had an hour of free time each day. However, Flain didn't make any more friends. Even during his free time, he trained with a smile. He would achieve his goal at any cost, even if it meant training himself to death.Experiments were conducted on Flain. He lost his hair, two long gray arms grew on his back, and a third red eye appeared. Flain became a mutant.Flain was then sent to war. He fought with sharp katabas. He performed quite well in the war, earning himself command of ten soldiers and becoming a small commander.But one day, everything changed.Flain then dies, is swallowed by darkness, and Flain refuses to die, thus appearing as a skeleton in a fantasy world.

She gave up her dream of shining on the ballerina stage —for him.She sacrificed her self-respect —for him.She forgot her true identity —for him.But even after all that, she couldn’t compare to the woman who held Ryan’s heart.Arwen Quinn, heiress of prestigious Quinn family, realized too late that no matter what she did, she would never win Ryan’s love. The future that awaited her was a life trapped in endless misery of a loveless marriage.So, decisively, she ends their relationship and walks away. What she didn’t expect was that in breaking free from Ryan, she had opened the door for Aiden to enter her life — a chance that he had been waiting for.Aiden Winslow, an enigmatic CEO isn’t just mysterious —he is determined, and won’t allow to take Arwen away from him again.____Excerpt:Aiden narrowed his eyes, “Are you sure about this?”“If I wasn’t sure, I wouldn’t have asked,” Arwen replied coolly. “Stop dawdling. If you’re unwilling, I’ll find someone else who can get the marriage certificates today.”His expression darkened as he pulled her close. “Once offered to me, it’s mine alone.”Unfazed, Arwen asked, “So, do you accept? If yes, we’ll get the certificates now.”“On one condition,” he said. “I don’t do contract marriages. The woman I marry will be the woman I share my bed with. If you agree, then we’ll—”“Not a problem. Let’s go,” Arwen said without letting him finish, pulling him into the Civil Marriage Bureau.

[Reunion at the beginning + Broken mirror reassembled + Bittersweet pull + Childhood sweethearts + Baby + Pure love + Sweet and torturous + Dramatic]Proud, cold, noble, and passionate CaptainFallen young lady, gentle flight doctorIn the fifth year after their breakup, flight doctor Annelise Winter reunited with her first love in the bustling midnight airport.That night, his news of piloting Warner Airlines 8830 through a thunderstorm zone to land back in the country stirred great waves.He is the Crown Prince of Kybourne South Airlines.And also the youngest civil aviation captain.Young and beautiful girls swarmed around him like bees.But Annelise Winter was always left behind.The cold and noble Captain Warner never glanced at Dr. Winter.Until one day, Annelise left without a word.People saw Captain Warner alone in Dr. Winter's office, eyes red.——When they met again, Annelise was holding the hand of a four-year-old girl.She said to the child, “Luna, call him Uncle.”Elias Warner suppressed his emotions as he questioned, eyes crimson, “Whose child is this?”Dr. Winter calmly replied, “A child unrelated to you.”So, during the five years she played and discarded him to go abroad, she had a child with another man.Looking at the man's desolate departing figure, little Luna obediently held her mother's hand.Perplexed.“Mom, isn't he Dad? Why should I call him Uncle?”……In this world, perhaps no one loves Elias Warner more than Annelise Winter.At eight years old, she had a budding crush.At twenty years old, she separated from him.At twenty-five, they reunited.Every day and every night, she hoped he would return safely.Such a wait, it lasted five years.

“Ahhhh why meeee?! I didn’t do anything, just played this shitty game, fuck, fuck fuck fuck!”[System: Your heart rate—]“Shut up! Millions of people played this shit and you choose me?! A fucking town girl who didn’t even stepped in a city in her life?! To be a fucking Empress?!”[System: You have fit the description][Woman, with no family. A woman who played at least 500 hours. A woman who reached max level. A woman who completed the final achievement. A woman who is in her late 20s.][Out of 43,456 candidates you were the one who got picked on a random roll. Be happy.]“Happy?! Happy that you have destroyed my life?! I bought my first house working twelve hour shifts every single fucking day and suddenly a black hole fucking vacuumed me in and I wake up in this terrible dress in a palace!”[System: Correct.]Indeed, the System was correct and even her, as she was in the grand palace of the Klimantina Empire, the exact same empire that she ruled… in the game at least.An empire that put her in the 17th century, the well known Rococo era… with a difference that it wasn’t based on a total fictional world, a total fictional country and its people and history.A game where the Empress took the throne after her family perished in a fire. In doing so, she not only assumed power but also entered a dangerous internal struggle, as her own people sought to overthrow her and claim the throne for themselves