(Sequel to Ties and Fate.) Yang Zhilan's idyllic village life is shattered when her late adoptive father's past comes back to haunt her family as he had double-crossed a very powerful mercenary group. Adding to the turmoil, she doesn't remember the last 18 years of her life. Yang Zhilan knows for a fact she is not from her village and that she probably had a life somewhere. Nonetheless, her mother and brother are the only family she has ever known and will always cherish them. Fearing for their safety, Yang Zhilan's mother urges her and her brother Yang Chu to seek refuge in the city and only come back when everything has settled. Perhaps contact the army division led by the Xi successor who has been cracking down on mercenary groups recently . In the city, she luckily secures a job at the Xi company and to her surprise, becomes his assistant's assistant for a project upon his return from abroad. However, their first encounter leaves the Xi successor, Xi Jinwei visibly shaken, as if he has seen a ghost from his past. As Yang Zhilan navigates her new life, long-buried secrets unravel, jealous love interests emerge and dangerous individuals threaten to disrupt the delicate balance she has found. In the midst of this turmoil, she must confront the ultimate question: is she worthy of Xi Jinwei's affection and the privileged life he represents? And most of all, who is she? (Sequel to Ties and Fate.)

Gabriel was a mixed blood heir of a yakuza clan who had to get engaged to a daughter of a very old, very respectable clan to assert his position as the new clan leader, when he met the mysterious Jade. She was everything he did not like in a woman. He liked meek and obedient women, and Jade was the furthest thing from meek and obedient. In fact, she was used to dominate her men instead of being dominated. So when two forces of nature collide, would both of them crash and burn, or would they learn to compromise-since neither of them seemed to be able to get their hands off each other. And the more important question was, would Gabriel still chose duty... over love? Warning! EXPLICIT CONTENTS 🔞🔞🔞 ± 96.5k words DO NOT COPY, DO NOT REPOST, DO NOT TRANSLATE.

Inure: (v.) To accustom to accept something undesirable, evil, or painful. An other worldly girl is reincarnated as Queen Estella de Royalis, the villainess of a novel that is killed by her own husband. Having no other choice, she strives to save herself from that fate. However, the novel she read is not the reality she believed. ______ I tried on another, a red one this time. I twirl in its large skirt. "This one matches your eyes," I say as I spin. "This one too." I stop, putting my hands on my hips. "Are you going to order all of them?" "If I want to, yes, I will." He doesn't budge. I sigh, sitting next to him. "You know that you don't have to do this. I can go buy my own dresses." "I know, but I want to see you wear dresses that I chose. Besides, is it so wrong to want to spend time with you?" ______ Note: This is entirely my work. I want to see if I'm able to write something without a plot set up for me. I hope you like it!