Nova Roma - Chapter 281 - Temporary madness

I don’t need any deep relationships. I have no desire for a girlfriend, and I only require one friend who holds any value to me. Ever since I threw out my youth for the sake of efficiency, there is one person who keeps entering the bedroom of Ooboshi Akiteru. She’s neither my little sister nor my friend. She’s nothing more than a bothersome, annoying Kouhai, as well as my friend’s little sister: Kohinata Iroha.

“Senpai, let’s go on a date~! Did you think I’d say that~?”

Rather than blood, it seems like energy drinks run through her veins. She keeps occupying my bed, and she tries her best to seduce me with whatever method she can play to her favor. She’s a girl who’s constantly annoying and obnoxious around me. Even though I’m busy all day long, she doesn’t care.

And in case you’re wondering why all these envious gazes are directed at me, it’s because Iroha is actually really popular. She’s an honor student at our school with top grades to boot, and she’s known for being kind and proper to anyone she meets.

…Hey now, why are you only so annoying when you’re around me?

Gazing at the Starbucks café at the airports had become a ritual for her. A desperate attempt as she hoped against hope to see him again, probably get one more chance to kiss him again.

Looking at the store all lost, she walked ahead, but stumbled and bumped against someone.

The cup of coffee that he had in his hand spilled all over just like the first time when she had met him.

“Jesus Christ”, he muttered.

The moment she heard the voice she looked up and saw his face. It was the same face that had promised to stay next to her, till death did them apart.

Tears flooded her eyes and she could barely speak, “I knew you would come back for me Raymond”. She raised herself on her toes in an attempt to kiss him, but he blocked her lips with his palm.

“Whoa, whoa, Miss !!! I guess you have mistaken me for someone else.”

“What are you saying, Raymond? It's me, your Akira. The love of your life, your fiancée,” she said and stretched her hand showing the ring on her finger.

He stared at the ring for quite some time and then looked at her face apologetically and said,

“Miss please, I am already a married man.”

And then he silently walked away.

The Empire stands triumphant.

For twenty years the Dread Empress has ruled over the lands that were once the Kingdom of Callow, but behind the scenes of this dawning golden age threats to the crown are rising. The nobles of the Wasteland, denied the power they crave, weave their plots behind pleasant smiles. In the north the Forever King eyes the ever-expanding borders of the Empire and ponders war. The greatest danger lies to the west, where the First Prince of Procer has finally claimed her throne: her people sundered, she wonders if a crusade might not be the way to secure her reign. Yet none of this matters, for in the heart of the conquered lands the most dangerous man alive sat across an orphan girl and offered her a knife.

Her name is Catherine Foundling, and she has a plan.

---------------

A Practical Guide to Evil is a fantasy series about a young girl named Catherine Foundling making her way through the world – though, in a departure from the norm, not on the side of the heroes. Is there such a thing as doing bad things for good reasons, or is she just rationalizing her desire for control? Good and Evil are tricky concepts, and the more power you get the blurrier the lines between them become.

Zhuang Xian was abducted when she was three years old and lived in an orphanage until she was sixteen when the Zhuang family adopted her. From then on, she jumped from being an orphan with nothing to a little princess. But she wasn’t satisfied. She wanted to find her birth parents and get their love, but she didn’t expect to instead find a family of jackals and snakes. They took advantage of her trust to annex her adoptive parents’ company and forced them to their deaths.

Her three brothers fled abroad, while Zhuang Xian was beaten and scolded by everyone. Locked in a warehouse, she was forced to endure torture for the whole month with a clear mind thanks to drugs. In the end, she died miserably due to her fiance and her sister’s plotting against her. That cheating scumbag and prostitute! Zhuang Xian swore before her death that if there was a next life, she would be willing to do anything for the Zhuang family, and she wouldn’t let these people deceive her like this again! She would make sure that those who treated her well would have a good life! Zhuang Xian didn’t get the next life, but she did return to the first three years of her adoption. For three years, she stayed under the radar and created multiple identities for herself.

When three years were up, she returned to the Zhuang family and beat up those scumbags, while her three brothers doted on her as though she was a treasure! Outsiders say that the Zhuang family’s adopted daughter didn’t learn well when she was younger, that she was completely illiterate, and that she was stubborn. The reason she was rejected by her previous adoptive family was that she was prone to stealing.

However… She was the Chess Saint, the Gold Medalist Designer, and also the world’s best doctor! All of them were her! There was also the crazy slave-like man who loved to spoil her and loved to show off his wife, “Zhuang Xian is beautiful, right? She’s my wife!”