A Stepmother's Marchen - Chapter 38

Xiao Rou, a girl growing up in a poor countryside family, finds that she’s actually the daughter of a wealthy couple. Her mother had mistaken another girl for her back at the hospital. Thinking she would change from an ugly duckling to a noble swan and live happily ever after with her real family, reality strikes her in the face.

The other girl, Xiao Jinning, who had taken her family, her fiancé and everything else from her, uses every mean possible to frame her up, so when she returns to her biological parents, she finds her parents despising her while still doting on Xiao Jinning. Framed as a thief, she is expelled from the family and as soon as she walks out the door, she gets hit by a car and her spirit dies a miserable death thanks to Xiao Jinning.

Meanwhile, Tang Xi, a real princess, the heiress of the powerful Empire Group, is murdered by her greedy relatives. When she opens her eyes again, she finds herself in another girl’s body. She has become Xiao Rou and has a magic system—008 in her body! With the help of 008, she begins her journey for revenge. She would avenge poor Xiao Rou, punish her murderers, become the most famous star, and… make up with her true love—Qiao Liang.

- Description from Novelupdates

Imagination is always pleasant, but reality is cruel. I just wanted a simple life but why am I always getting into trouble?

Philip never expected his new life to be so… complicated. When a tragic accident in the modern metropolis of Bortinto abruptly ends his struggle for survival, he wakes up as the scandal-ridden heir of a ducal house in a world where magic and science coexist. Any fantasies of an easy, heroic life vanish the moment he realizes that the estate that he is tasked with managing is drowning in debt, and his reputation has been shredded by rumors involving his predecessor’s broken engagement to the socialite Lady Rosetta—the granddaughter of a prince.Even as he scrambles to rebuild his estate’s fortunes—grappling with contaminated land, mounting debts, and shrewed industrialists—he unearths troubling secrets about the original Philip’s heartbreak and suicide. A dark, hidden force seems intent on wiping him out for an unknown reason. As conspiracies emerge linking Lady Rosetta’s departure to these shadowy machinations, Philip struggles to separate ally from adversary, not knowing why this power in high places is so bent on destroying him.Meanwhile, the realm teeters on the brink of monumental change. Technological and social revolutions collide with century-old magical traditions, and war drums thunder on the distant borders. Armed with his modern knowledge of finance—now fused with the kingdom’s burgeoning industrial innovations—Philip attempts to ride the trends and transform his estate into a beacon of prosperity and secure his heirship to the ducal title. Yet each small triumph only attracts more enemies.Tasked by the System with cultivating a supernatural entity while uncovering the real reason behind Lady Rosetta’s canceled engagement and the original Philip’s tragic end, he must also shield those he grows to care about from the looming threats. Will he harness the synergy of magic, technology, and commerce to steer his estate toward greatness, or will malevolent forces quash his second chance at life? Will his second chance at life end the same tragic way as his first?