Phoenix Rise: XieRong - Chapter 20 The Journey to West Province |Part 3|

In typical Mary-Sue novel, readers all like the second male lead who only loves the heroine wholeheartedly and is willing to give up everything for the heroine, but the heroine only loves the male lead who once abused her body and heart.

Readers: Why doesn’t the heroine love the second ML, the demon sect leader?!

The demon sect leader: This Devil Venerable also wants to know, why do I like her?

In order to find out why the female lead doesn’t like him, the self-conscious demon sect leader set out to “interview” all the characters in the novel.

———

When a book was dropped into his lap, the demon sect leader discovered the world he lived in was described in it. This book said that after he sacrificed himself for the female lead, the 4th male lead, his silent, loyal subordinate, blackened and attempted to kill her.

The demon sect leader, Wen Renhe: Yin Hanjiang, this Devil Venerable wants to know why you wanted to kill the heroine.

Yin Hanjiang was silent.

Wen Renhe: If you refuse to speak, this Devil Venerable will force you to speak!

Yin Hanjiang: …

Wen Renhe: What are you blushing for?!

Power comes with a cost... and it was something she was willing to trade her soul for.A few nights before her wedding, Lauren sought a way to break her fourth engagement. Known for her bad reputation as the rebel princess, she was the only lady who had the guts to step foot on the Everston mansion, the house of a notorious warlord, in the middle of the night.She offered him a wicked alliance that the entire kingdom did not see coming: a marriage.A vixen pretending to be a damsel in distress and a man whose crimson eyes screaming for bloodshed. Could something blossom in this treacherous dance of lies and deception?--“Are you upset?”She eyed him sharply. “Should I be honored that I got tricked by you, milord?”He drank the remaining wine in his glass with one gulp and put it on the wooden table.He stepped in front of her. His hand was on the rail on her side while his other hand grabbed her glass and finished her wine before putting it down.The way his Adam's apple moved with his every violent gulp made her feel a tickling heat around her nape.When he brought his attention back to her, he licked his lips to wipe off the trace of wine.“How shall I make it up to you then?” he asked with his deep voice, like a seductive devil asking his victim how she would like to be killed. Dangerous yet… enthralling.

Intelligence without ambition is like a bird without wings.

Elaine Monroe never meant to fall in love with him. She never meant for her heart to betray her like this. But as she watches him stand beside another, hand resting on the waist of the woman he’s meant to be with, she wonders if she was always destined to be the outsider.“You knew,” she says, voice barely above a whisper. “You knew how I felt.”His jaw tightens, but he doesn’t deny it. He never does.“It wouldn’t have changed anything,” he finally says.She laughs bitterly. “I know.”Loving him was always impossible. He belonged to someone else. To his family’s expectations. To a future where Elaine had no place.“Forget whatever you think you feel,” he tells her, voice firm, but there’s something unspoken in his eyes—something that makes it hurt even more. “It will never happen.”And yet, his gaze lingers, just for a second too long.Then there’s her best friend—the one who stands beside her when the world turns its back. The one who sees her pain without asking.“You don’t have to do this to yourself,” he says, handing her his jacket on a cold night. “You deserve more than waiting for someone who will never be yours.”She wants to believe him. She wants to move forward. But some loves are impossible to forget. Some wounds never truly heal. And some desires, no matter how forbidden, refuse to die._____“loving him best decision i ever made” Elaine“you are my world”