The Heavenly Martial Empress Returns: An OP Xianxia Returnee LitRPG - Chapter 213: A Race Against Time

Monsters lurk in the night, but what if something else hunted them? An incident in his childhood left Velik an outcast with a racial subtype that thrives at night and unique class called [The Black Fang], which focuses on just one thing: killing monsters. He’s good at finding them, and he’s good at slaying them. For ten years, he’s been gaining levels and sharpening his skills on the thousands of monsters infesting the wild lands of the frontier. For ten years, he’s kept a lonely stretch of towns safe. Despite his efforts, this year has seen an explosion in the monster population, so much that he’s no longer capable of protecting everyone by himself. This draws the interest of another monster hunter, one that’s professionally licensed, but he seems more interested in investigating Velik than anything else. At least with him there, Velik is free to finally explore the mysteries of the deep wood, where he believes the source of all monsters resides. Every answer he finds leads to new questions, and not even Velik himself knows the truth of what happened on that fateful day. One thing’s for sure: not even the monsters are safe in the dark.

The story begins as our female lead wakes up in a strange room and an unfamiliar body. She realizes that she has travelled back in time and her twenty-two year old spirit is now trapped in the body of a six year old girl. This girl child is the third daughter of Ning Guo’s Prime Minister Li and his seventh wife. Her name is Li Qing Luo and because her mother was originally from an entertainment house, Prime Minister Li and his other six wives treated them badly.

Her first day in that world, the whole family gathers to test the talent of the three daughters. Qing Lei, the eldest, is talented at playing the zither while Qing Fei’s calligraphy is incomparable. Everyone anticipates A’Luo’s failure as she had not exhibited any talent before, but that six year old child recites a famous Tang poem. The entire family is surprised that Qing Luo is able to write such a profound poem and her mother later tells her that Prime Minister Li is so harsh on his daughters because he needs to rely on them marrying well to secure his future. Qing Luo begins to study qin, qi, shu, hua (zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting) but hides her skill because she does not want to be sold in marriage to some prince or court official.

Six years later, A’Luo is now twelve and leaves the estate for the first time to participate at a flower viewing banquet. This is a special banquet because the Five Most Eligible Bachlors of Feng Cheng will be in attendance (there’s actually a more elegant name for them). These young men are: Crown Prince Liu Jian, Fourth Prince Liu Fei, the young An Qing Wang Liu Jue, the son of Prime Minister Gu Gu Tian Xiang, and the top scorer of the Imperial Examinations Cheng Si Yue. A’Luo sneaks off and almost falls into a river, but is saved by a handsome young man. Because he glanced at her bare legs a moment too long, A’Luo calls him a pervert, tries to push him into the river and runs off. The young man only laughs and vows to find her again.

- Description from Novelupdates

Lady Bertia, who’s become my fiancée, is a bit odd. On our first meeting, she proclaimed herself a villainess noble girl who’s been reincarnated and said that she’s working hard every day to become a splendid flower of evil that’s elegantly put in her place.

I don’t get it.

But she entertains me because I don’t understand.

That’s why I think I’ll observe her for a while.

This is a story of a crown prince who’s so talented and handsome that he’s grown bored of his easy-mode life. A story of this prince observing a self-proclaimed villainess noble girl (who seems perfect at first but is a bit off) who’s become his fiancée as she snatches flags and breaks them into pieces.

«Until death do us part.»That was our vow.And she kept it... by driving her sword through my chest.I was a hero. A symbol. The one chosen by the gods to free humanity.I fought for her. For us.But in the end, it wasn’t the demons who killed me.It was the woman I loved.Helena betrayed me.I fell with my heart shattered and my blood burning between my fingers.But death wasn’t the end.I woke up in another body, in another world...No, not exactly.I woke up inside the very story she wrote.And now, I am Daven von Riesenhart:the bastard son of a marquess, a noble outcast with a name no one respects, and a life I never asked for.I no longer believe in ideals, in gods, or in happy endings.I won’t fight for others.I won’t die for anyone.This time, I’ll live only for myself.And if surviving means deceiving, betraying, or destroying...so be it.Even if it makes me the villain of this story.