From Blade To Spell - Chapter 15: Merchants

Being second best is practically in my DNA. My sister got the love, the attention, the spotlight. And now, even her damn fiancé.Technically, Rhys Granger was my fiancé now—billionaire, devastatingly hot, and a walking Wall Street wet dream. My parents shoved me into the engagement after Catherine disappeared, and honestly? I didn’t mind. I’d crushed on Rhys for years. This was my chance, right? My turn to be the chosen one?Wrong.One night, he slapped me. Over a mug. A stupid, chipped, ugly mug my sister gave him years ago. That’s when it hit me—he didn’t love me. He didn’t even see me. I was just a warm-bodied placeholder for the woman he actually wanted. And apparently, I wasn’t even worth as much as a glorified coffee cup.So I slapped him right back, dumped his ass, and prepared for disaster—my parents losing their minds, Rhys throwing a billionaire tantrum, his terrifying family plotting my untimely demise.Obviously, I needed alcohol. A lot of alcohol.Enter him.Tall, dangerous, unfairly hot. The kind of man who makes you want to sin just by existing. I’d met him only once before, and that night, he just happened to be at the same bar as my drunk, self-pitying self. So I did the only logical thing: I dragged him into a hotel room and ripped off his clothes.It was reckless. It was stupid. It was completely ill-advised.But it was also: Best. Sex. Of. My. Life.And, as it turned out, the best decision I’d ever made.Because my one-night stand isn’t just some random guy. He’s richer than Rhys, more powerful than my entire family, and definitely more dangerous than I should be playing with.And now, he’s not letting me go.

At her cousin's birthday party, she was schemed to have a relationship with her cousin's fiancé, becoming the most shameless woman among rich families, and therefore married to that man, the most influential big shot in the city.After marriage, the wholehearted love only brings endless humiliation and disgust.Later, her cousin returned. He threw out the divorce agreement, saying, “Give Mrs. Leng's position back to her.” He even took their child and gave it to her cousion who was unable to bear children.She finally became disheartened and fled far away with their child, completely disappearing from his world.On his wedding day, he suddenly learned the truth and realized that his white moonlight had always been her, not her cousin.“If love is an isolated island, I'm willing to settle there for you forever.”

Shoved into the backseat of his father's car right after graduation, Riley Hale ended up marching toward a company building with a bagged lunch and a pen.Still in his toga, the fresh graduate never thought he’d land in the office of the continent’s top lizard, err, dragon, as his aide.And that would’ve driven any person wishing for a corporate career to tears. After all, who wouldn’t want to serve the fastest ticket up the corporate ladder: Kael Dravaryn, the infamously elegant, unhinged, and extremely overpowered Dragon Lord of the continent?Well, that would be Riley.The same Riley who didn’t expect to spend his days dodging fireballs, dressing his boss in robes more complicated than dark magic, and serving as a literal target during morning sparring.Now trapped in a job he never truly agreed to, the hardworking aide decided to hold out until it was time for his glorious resignation. But leaving a dragon’s clutches could never be easy, especially one with elemental mastery and a finger worth a private army.Yet, as Riley, who longs to quit, attempts to navigate ancient politics, wyvern threats, and other accidents (many of which are definitely not his fault), he might just hallucinate himself into seeing something beneath his boss’s arrogance and molten glares.Maybe he’d actually care if Riley got turned to ash.

Diagnosed with cancer, she decided to give up the baby in her womb.She had originally planned to have an abortion, get divorced, and then face the arrival of death calmly, hallowing he and his new love to be together.However, he didn't let her go easily. He lingered with her day and night as she grew weaker and weaker, just to leave a child for his infertile new lover.Lying on the hospital bed on the verge of death, she begged, “Take my life and just let me go.”The cold and aloof man knelt in front of her tombstone, holding her favorite gardenias, staying day and night, murmuring with red eyes, “Sweetie, come back. Please don't kidding me...”