MTL - Arcane Age - Chapter 94 Admissions assessment

[ Late check-ins accepted. Abyss residues surcharges apply. ]The Last Neutral Inn, a small establishment run by a retired man named Aldous. He serves good soup, honest tea, and the only guaranteed neutral ground between the mortal world and the Abyss.He used to change the world. He doesn't do that anymore, but he has opinions about bread. He will share them.In a place where exiled gods need somewhere to sleep, demon courts require neutral venues for negotiations they can't afford to lose, and abyssal entities older than civilization occasionally need a simple word with someone who won't panic, Aldous runs the only establishment that qualifies. His guests aren't only human. His inn shouldn't exist. The Abyss stops exactly at his property line, which nobody has satisfactorily explained.Aldous makes soup. He fixes the stairs. He files the paperwork.He is no hero. No king. He runs an inn.The question nobody had the courage to ask yet is why.

Lin Xinlan, who possessed both spatial and wood manipulation abilities, was betrayed by her boyfriend and best friend. They had drugged her and sent her to a laboratory to become a test specimen all for the sake of a month’s worth of food supply. Having suffered both physical and mental torture, she chose to self-destruct, taking the lab researchers down with her! When she woke up again, she found herself in another era as a twelve-year-old girl named Lin Yuelan.When Lin Yuelan was nine years old, a Taoist who had been begging for water asserted that she would grow up to jinx her husband! Rumors spread and the assertion of her jinxing her husband turned into jinxing her parents, to her relatives, then her friends, and eventually she was said to be a jinx of the world. Her grandparents, uncles, and awful relatives were terrified of being jinxed to death, so they resolutely severed ties with nine-year-old Lin Yuelan. They removed her from the family register and made her live on her own. Her foolish father had obeyed the clan’s wishes, her mother was a crying mess, and her siblings couldn’t do anything to help. Being separated from the family at nine years old, she was given a shabby and shaky little hut, one paddy field, and two dry fields as severance compensation. From then on, the Lin family had nothing to do with Lin Yuelan, and Lin Yuelan became a girl with no background. She warily reached the age of twelve, but accidentally offended the village’s bully. The bully’s comrade eventually beat her to death, and that allowed Lin Xinlan to transmigrate onto her.“I have spatial abilities, and the world will be mine! Watch as I, Lin Xinlan, command authority wherever I go, and become a supreme being!”

Princess Anastasia of Orsenia is regarded as the kingdom’s treasure. However, she carries a heavy secret— she is diagnosed with an incurable illness. She is fated to die before she turns 18.

For years, her parents desperately searched for a cure but to no avail. That is, until a mysterious letter arrives, claiming that the only way Anastasia can escape her cruel fate is to send her to a monster:

King Caspain, the ruler of Sorvando, a vampire kingdom.

The letter prophesizes that Anastasia will live, only if she makes that bloodthirsty King fall in love with her. However, Anastasia knows it’s nearly an impossible task. Sorvando is filled with dangers. And she is only but a weak human.

Yet, her will to live won over her fear. No matter how cruel the king may be, Anastasia will still try to win his heart.

Now, if only she can keep her own heart from falling for him as well.

***

[Excerpt]

“Cas-pian…”

And he looked back to see that she was biting her lower lip as though she greatly enjoyed that kiss.

He smirked again and whispered in his deeply seductive voice, “I like my name even more ever since I started hearing it from your beautiful lips. And I like it even further when you say it in that hushed tone.”

Anastasia had no idea what Caspian was hinting at yet.

So he dropped some more hints, “Wife, weren’t you asking me what the first night meant? Let me show you.”

The first time they meet, he arrests her under suspicions that she's involved in a murder case. He's so handsome that she, as the head of an entertainment company, is determined to recruit him into her company, train him to be a star, and make him her cash cow! But he is neither short of money nor fame and refuses her. So she decides—to make him her boyfriend first.“I'm 5'4” tall. Do you think I need to tiptoe to kiss you?” She smiles brightly, ogling at him. The man gives her a deadpan glance. “Are you daydreaming?” She licks her lips and smiles. “Yes, I'm dreaming about having sex with you.” “......!!!”A few months later, Song Yi finally loses her patience and asks, “Do you like me or not? I've been chasing you for so long!” Tang Si smiles and whispers to her, “Miss Song, this can only prove that you're not attractive enough.” Annoyed, Song Yi is about to retort only to hear his husky and sultry voice. “Let me teach you—how to attract a man.” Her mind goes blank!At first, she imagines Tang Si to be a mature and reliable man, but it turns out that he's actually lazy, naughty, and damn good at seducing women!…“What would you do if you hadn't chosen to be a policeman?”“Be a star.” The man cracks a smile.“Become CEO Song's… sugar baby.”Everyone is shocked. “How dare this woman poach someone from our police force?”