Merchant Crab - Chapter 228: Colossal Responsibility

Ye Feng was transported to a cultivation world, but unfortunately had no hope of cultivating immortality and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life.Yet he didn’t know—The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king.The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it.The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him.Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds.Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along…

CONTENT WARNING:/This novel contains mature themes, explicit sexual content, strong language, and adult situations. Reader discretion is advised./---She ran from the devil who raised her…And married the one who wore a crown.After her parents’ tragic death, Lydia Andreyevna’s life became a nightmare. Stripped of her name, inheritance, and freedom by her uncle—Lord Alexander—she was treated like property and promised to a Count four times her age.Desperate to escape, she fled into the cold night… and straight into blood.A stranger. Wounded. Beautiful. Terrifying.She should’ve left him.But she didn’t.She touched him once—and fate branded her forever.Her uncle caught her the next morning. Her escape failed. But when she begged Queen Olga for protection, the Queen offered her a deadly bargain:Marry the masked Grand Duke of Zolotaria.The king’s hunting dog. The butcher of the East. The devil in a crown.The man feared by kings.The heir to the throne.The same man she once saved.Ivan Romanov.They say he bathes in blood. That he kills without blinking. That he conquered kingdoms with a smile behind a mask. That no one sees his face—and lives.Some call him the devil. Others call him Death’s favorite son.But behind the mask is the same man she found dying in the dark.The same voice that haunted her dreams.The same hands she once held.Now, he’s her husband.Her jailer.Her obsession.She doesn’t know if she’s his prisoner, or his weakness.Cold and untouchable, Ivan doesn’t share his bed. Doesn’t share his secrets. But she sees it—the hunger in his eyes. The pain in his silence. The way he looks at her like she’s the only thing keeping his demons at bay.She should fear him.She should hate him.But the moment she dares to take off his mask… it’s already too late.Because Ivan wants her—her fire, her body, her heart.And in his world, what he wants, he keeps.Even if it means burning down the kingdom.She thought she was running from hell.She ended up in his bed.And the most dangerous thing of all?She doesn’t want to leave.

[You have awakened with the Lifespan Extraction System!][Extract Lifespan, advance your Cultivation and Cultivation Talent, amass an unstoppable Army of Shadow Beasts, and ascend to the Pinnacle of the World of Immortal Cultivation!]In the Super-Continent of Legaria, a Godlike youngling was born… and abandoned.Scorned and hated by all for merely existing, Zar struggled day in and day out, just trying to survive to see the next dawn. In a world of Intelligent Beasts, he, a Half-Beast, Half-Human—a species alien to the inhabitants of Legaria—had no one to rely on.By some miracle, he managed to make it in one piece to his 15th birthday. A day… which changed everything for him.*Ding!*[Are you ready to become the Ultimate Immortal Beast Tamer?]Fate shall be rewritten!Zar—a lone Godling—shall rise up and make even the most arrogant of God Beasts and Immortal Cultivators relinquish their strength to him!

It’s been 11 years since I’ve lived for others and not for me.

The moment I cried out wanting to get away from my exhausting life, I opened my eyes in the body of some Count’s 20-year-old daughter.

Since this happened, I decided to live my life freely as a single woman.

But…

“I need a lady to act as my fake wife for a certain period of time.”

“A contract marriage?”

“The term is one year. When the time is up, I’ll give you divorce with no strings attached.”

The Duke of the Empire whom I had happened to meet at a ball was hitting on me.

Turns out he’s no other than the Emperor’s beloved brother, Duke Scade!

Hold on, it’s just going to end in a clean divorce with no strings attached?

“You should also give me alimony. Give me one of the best lands of the Ducal household with 10 years’ worth of profit.”

“…..What?”

“If you don’t want to do that, then we cannot get married.”

This time I’m going to live a life taking care of the things I need first!

***

“I’ll escort you since it’s late.”

Where to? My bedroom is just around the corner.

“Tonight, I’ll do my best.”

No, I don’t need you to do that.

“Did you just look at that man?”

Excuse me, Duke, you said it’s for a limited time only, so why do you keep obsessing over me?