Edge of the Dark - Chapter 97 - 96: The Silent Ending

A 21st-century tech manager, accidentally thrust into the body of Emperor Commodus—yes, the infamous villain played by Joaquin Phoenix—has one goal: not to die like him.Armed with his wits and a hyper-intelligent AI on a solar-powered laptop, he must navigate the treacherous politics of ancient Rome. Everyone, including his own sister, expects the arrogant, decadent tyrant. Instead, they find a calculating reformer. But as he tries to avert the fall of the empire, he discovers that being a “good” emperor might be even more dangerous than being the monster everyone is waiting for.

There are times—far too many times—when you feel that uncontrollable urge to kill someone.For Kaya, this… this was exactly that moment.“Repeat what you just said?”She’d seen hell on the battlefield—second-in-command of a military unit, dodging bullets, dragging traitors by the collar, and coming out alive with grit under her nails.But nothing, absolutely nothing, prepared her for the sight of her spineless husband flirting with her own sister. Right in front of her.“I could never marry a barbarian like you. The one I... I like is Meera—”Blah blah. The same pitiful nonsense again.You think—what could possibly be worse than this?And then, right on cue, your idiotic sister chimes in, completely serious, “I just poisoned you.”Wow.BANG.Before anyone could even react, Meera collapsed.Dead.Her so-called husband gasped like a fish dragged out of water.“Y-you…”He dropped to his knees, staring at Kaya like he was seeing a monster rise from the dark.“You killed your sister?! How could y—?”BANG.Second bullet.Same spot.He dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.Silence....Just when Kaya thought her story had finally reached its bitter end, the universe—no, god himself—decided to throw in one last, ridiculous twist.“Wife… wife, didn’t you say you were gonna eat me? Why’d you stop?”A snake beast, ridiculously charming and glowing like some immortal fantasy, clung to her, eyes gleaming.Another voice interrupted.“Shut up! My wife wants to cuddle me now—”A sparrow beastman leapt into her arms, like that made any sense.“Hic… wife, don’t you want me anymore?”A panda-like beastman sat beside her, huge, sniffly, and wronged like a child abandoned at a festival.Sitting in the middle of all this, Kaya was absolutely dumbfounded.‘When the hell did all of this even start?’

“Kill them all - every last member of House Grim must die tonight!”That was the last thing Renard heard before his world turned to ash. One night was all it took for him to lose everything - his family slaughtered, his home burned to ashes, all because the other Great Houses branded them traitors.They thought they wiped a noble line. Instead, they created a monster.Rising from the despair of losing everything, Renard became the beast Sovereign. He embraced the darkness and rose to the position of the 7th commander of the dreaded demon army.Leading an army of Demons and monsters, he brought three legendary Heroes to their knees and crushed four Great Houses to dust. But just as revenge was within his grasp, the champion of Humanity - Klean Weaver's holy sword pierced his heart.Renard thought that was the end.But something impossible happened.He woke up in the past, in a time when his family still lived and House Grim stood strong among the Eight Great HousesA second chance!A chance to change everything.That wasn’t all.For unknown reasons, he inherited the Legacy of the Devourer, a power that lets him consume the strength of his enemies.Was it a curse? Or a blessing? He didn’t know. But for Renard, it is simply a tool to protect what's his.The Lords of the Great Houses think they're untouchable in their high castles. They have no idea what's coming.This time, the Beast of House Grim hunts first!!

Reina Suzuki was an overworked office worker—until she died and woke up as Lavinia Devereux, the infamous villainess princess of the Elarion Empire.She knows how this story ends: she’ll drink poison and die. A painless, easy death. So why bother changing fate? Villainy, revenge, redemption—sounds like way too much work. She decides to do absolutely nothing and let the story play out.But her terrifying father, Emperor Cassius Devereux, won’t ignore her like he’s supposed to. He watches her, questions her, and—worst of all—starts acting like he actually cares.Lavinia just wanted a quiet villainess retirement… so why does everything keep changing?