The Archduke's Songbird - Chapter 17: Isadora and Bernard

I used a cheat to devise a character in a game. Upon regaining consciousness after pressing the play button, I discovered myself embodying the character I had crafted, the ‘Priest of Corruption.’ This character was intentionally created with unfavourable statistics and is widely detested! The sole item in my inventory was the withered hand of a woman, yet could it possibly be the hand of a goddess?

Time is an illusion, and reality is a fragile thread in Kael's fractured world.Kael's life is defined by darkness, memories that flicker in and out like glitching shadows. Struggling with haunting nightmares and terrifying hallucinations, he finds himself trapped in a reality that doesn’t make sense—a reality where time is breaking, and nothing is as it seems.When a mysterious red notebook, filled with cryptic symbols, falls into his hands, it opens a gateway to a world where the laws of time no longer apply. Every hour, every minute, every second twists and warps, and Kael begins to realize that something—or someone—is manipulating time itself, pushing him to the edge of his sanity.But he's not alone. A girl, whose existence is as twisted as the world around them, seems to be connected to his suffering. Kael's bond with her grows as they both search for the truth behind their disturbing experiences, yet the more they uncover, the deeper they fall into an abyss of despair and madness.The Pulse, an unfathomable force that distorts time and reality, pulses through their very existence. As Kael inches closer to the truth, he faces a devastating choice—one that could either save them or shatter everything they hold dear.Time is collapsing, the Pulse is awakening, and Kael must confront the horrors lurking in the fractured timeline before it consumes them all.

Humanity was on the brink of destruction. Muyoung, an assassin from the Forest of Death, fell to his knees. There were corpses all around him. For years, he had worked for the Forest of Death and had finally been able to eradicate them. Now, he, himself, was about to die. He closed his eyes as he felt his heart stop beating.

The poor Commandery Princess is down and out. Her father died when she was young, and her mother passed away not long ago. Her grandfather, the only one she can rely on, is now at death’s door from his illness. Faced with the merciless uncle, the greedy aunts, as well as cousins competing to present the model of the worst relatives, the Commandery Princess could do nothing but feel depressed in heart.