Beers and Beards - Chapter 4: A glass half full

Qin Zheng transmigrated into the role of the Princess Consort, but Qin Zheng, an engineer dispatched to a foreign country, didn’t get the script for a palace drama, nor did she have the chance to experience the luxurious life of a Princess Consort. Because, the nation had perished. A eunuch held three feet of white silk and said, “Your Highness, the city has fallen. Please leave with dignity.” Qin Zheng: “…” What kind of beginning was this? In order to avoid being forced to commit su*cide, Qin Zheng had no choice but to go to the bed of her half-dead husband, the Crown Prince, and pretend to be deeply affectionate, shedding a few tears to delay time. Emperor Chu Chengji, founder of the Great Chu Dynasty, was valiant and skilled in warfare. He conquered the northern barbarians and drove out the southern savages, ushering in the prosperous era of Xuan Chu. He spent his entire life in battles, without a wife or concubines. Consequently, after his premature death, only a young scion from a collateral branch was selected to succeed him. He departed during the peak of his prosperous reign, only to open his eyes and find himself at the time of his nation’s demise! He was reincarnated as the current Crown Prince, his own nephew of many generations. Learning that the territory he had opened up in the past was directly lost, the Emperor of the founding dynasty couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation. How useless were these descendants? Back then, he could establish this long-standing empire single-handedly, and today, he could rebuild it! As for this stunningly beautiful Princess Consort, who cried so pitifully in front of him, the Emperor of the founding dynasty was extremely disdainful: “Women would only hinder his speed of restoration!” Later, the Emperor of the founding dynasty would knock on the door of the Pepper Room every night and ask, “Azhen, can I come back to sleep?”

For He Yi, life was like a coffee table laid with all sorts of coffee mugs resembling her misfortunes. She lost her virtue and had a premarital pregnancy—without knowing the father’s identity—right before her engagement. Her father passed away due to a heart attack when his company wound up. At that point, He Yi’s child was one-month-old and the culprit behind these tragedies was her trusted husband.

Under despair and rage, she drove toward her nemesis to knock him down. That had resulted in her becoming a destitute divorcee who could not afford proper meals after she had finished serving her sentence in prison five years later. She lost everything and her child was snatched away by her nemesis.

Her ex-husband eventually married his mistress who was contemptuous of her. “How are you able to live with this? I’d die much earlier if I were you.”

He Yi only gave a slight cold smile. “The reason I’m still alive is to witness how you go to Hell!”

This is the tale of an earthling, who transmigrated as a dying third-rate god but somehow rose through the ranks, gaining followers and eventually causing the Fourth Great Apocalypse.

What life is left for a warrior when there is no more enemy to fight?

…He knelt before her in the posture of a soldier giving honor to their Queen. And she didn’t even know it.

“Harth,” he rasped, “I come empty-handed. I bring no weapon. Because I swear to you, I will never choose to harm you. Never draw your blood—in anger, or in fear. I bring no shield. Because I vow I will never defend myself from your eyes, your hands, your mind. I am yours.”

*****

After a year of peace in Anima, Tarkyn finds himself… lonely. As the Captain of the Queen’s Guard and a lion-shifter, he has met every female in the tribes, but never found his mate. Certain he must have overlooked someone, Tarkyn undertakes a grueling ritual, pleading with the Creator to reveal her. But the ritual presses him to the end of even his formidable strength.

Yet, the Creator heard his cry…

Discovered on the brink of death by his mate, Harth, and nursed back to health, Tarkyn now faces the most difficult battle of his life. Because Harth isn’t just a stranger to the Anima, she is a weapon of the humans who tried to destroy them.

Can the love of a warrior and his enemy bring peace to Anima? Or will they be torn apart forever by war between their peoples?

*****

.....

STANDALONE STORY: While Tarkyn’s story is a part of the Anima world and fans will be reunited with some of their favorites as side-characters, Tarkyn and Harth are new POV characters and their story is a new plot arc, so their story can be enjoyed without reading the previous books! But please add Falling in Love with the King of Beasts, and Taming the Queen of Beasts to your library to enjoy later!