Refining the Mountains and Rivers - Chapter 1605 – Half Luck

[COMPLETE] Can a royal Romeo and Juliet find their happy ending?

Ayleth, Princess of Zenithra, is secretly trained in hand-to-hand combat, and collects swear words she doesn't know how to use. During the Festival of Peace, in which every royal son on the continent will be at the castle for a month, she is instructed by her parents to find a husband. Yet, Ayleth has never even been kissed—until the very first ball, when she meets the man in the Lion mask.

Etan is a seasoned warrior, and the Prince of Summitras. He attends the Festival hoping to find a powerful wife who will help him conquer the dark sorcery of their bloodsworn enemies, the Kingdom of Zenithra. But at the very first ball, he discovers the masked woman who captures his heart is the Heir to the evil empire.

Ayleth and Etan face an impossible battle. Will their love survive? Or will their parents' dark dealings keep them apart forever?

[Mature content. No sexual violence.]

******

“You…” She stepped back. Then back again, her mouth dropped open. “You… You cannot be…”

“I am,” Etan said, and his hair raked back as he pushed his mask off his handsome face. So handsome her heart raced.

His hair was ebony black, his skin a warm brown that threatened to fade in in the winter months. He stared at her with glittering green eyes, over high cheekbones and a noble nose, his jaw tight and shadowed this late in the day. His chin was high over the pillar of his neck that she’d just touched with its hard lines and steel strength, so different to her own. And his chest... She gasped and covered her eyes. She’d humiliated herself revealing her stupid, childish curiosity.

“No, Ayleth. This changes nothing.”

“How can you say that? It changes everything!” She was horrified to realize she was crying.

“Ayleth, please.” His voice cracked on the plea and she stared at him, shoving her mask up and off, despite how it would pull her hair out of the beautiful twist the maid had managed for her.

His eyes locked on hers and she couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe.

She had met her One. And he was the son of her bloodsworn enemy.

She stared at him as he stepped forward again, offering both hands, palm up. “Touch me,” he whispered. “Hold my hands. This is real, Ayleth. I don’t know how it happened, but this is real. Please don’t deny it.”

She couldn’t resist. She raised a trembling hand to his cheek, letting her palm catch on the scruff of his jaw. He blew out a breath and put his hand over hers, and that jolt that happened whenever they touched shivered through her again.

“Please, Ayleth.”

“I cannot deny it,” she whispered.

It begins on the mountain.

With the glint of a knife, a flash of steel in the hands of a sworn brother. A betrayal.

Stabbed and pushed down the mountain, Zi Chen lied within the red-stained snow, left to die.

This is where it begins; he is given life by lightning,
baptized by thunder.

Those who had once betrayed him should all suffer in his cruel revenge.

- Description from Novelupdates

Can you get used to dying? He has to.When a particular universe was born, its seven primordial Concepts acquired an ego. Omniscient and omnipotent, they seek since to enrich their home. To do so, they plunder other universes, capture young civilizations and plagiarize ideas. Many monsters, gods, civilizations, and races are competing for the eighth throne.Eons later, it is Earth's turn to be torn away from its Sun.Humanity begins its integration by participating in a Tutorial. Priam has the luck and the misfortune to finish the Tutorial first. Luck because his reward is a form of pseudo-immortality. Misfortune, because as the champion of his civilization, he is transported to Elysium, the most dangerous world created by the Concepts. Nine out of ten champions lose their lives there on their first day. Fortunately for Priam, he has many lives.

(MATURE CONTENT)Threesome arc? - Right hereA weak, adorable, and low self-esteemed MC with an awful past, a trauma breaking him down every second and controling his life, just before he meets his 'suns', and later gains confidence and starts loving himself again arc? - Right here. Yeah, you read that right.Twin brothers who radiate like the sun and are very possessive of the MC, putting his happiness above everything arc? Gosh, look no further, you're in the right place.This story is just for you, so open it and read to your heart's content.******SynopsisI was just a no-name photographer who was trying hard to make a living, but then I got tangled with 'them'.My life, as it was, had always been nothing but a nightmare, living a cursed life that wasn't fit to be called a life.I had no chances with love, connections, or anything. Nothing! And after drawing my last straw, trying to make a final effort that would maybe lead me somewhere other than dirt, I met them again.They - the twins - were my childhood friends whose lives I had ruined with my presence, and I was scared to ruin it a second time, so I tried to stay away from them but... They had other plans.'When angels dream.'That was what I called the picture. The beautiful portrait was filled with serenity as that blond Italian man gazed into the distance and was showered with the soft petals of cherry blossom.The beautiful picture I had 'stolen'. Yeah, that's the word. I stole it because I didn't ask for permission first.But this is how it unfolded.At first, I took the picture without asking because I was so mesmerized by the scenery, and completely breathtaking, but then I got caught but it wasn't by the same man.They looked alike and wore the same clothes but I could tell right away that he wasn't him.Nevertheless, I apologized.“I'm deeply sorry.” I said but then, the man whom I had stolen a picture from walked up behind me and said,“To think such a day would come.” I turned around and blinked, looking at the man in front of me and then at the one behind me.They were identical twins. And not only that ... My heart shook... They looked like the twins I had known back then.“What's the matter?” The one in front asked with a bright smile that I was so compelled to take a picture of him and I did.He blinked at my confused expression and then burst out laughing.A sweet and cheerful laugh that made me blush. he looked really handsome. They both did, with their blonde hair which shone like gold with the suns radiation and a charming smile.I found my heart racing at the mere sight of that smile and almost forgot the situation I was in.“I see you haven't changed at all.” He suddenly said, swiped my hair back and added, softly, “Hyung.”My eyes widened. These two... It couldn't be... They weren't the twins, right? The twins that I knew. They... How did this happen? I just wanted a picture, that's all.