Picking Up Fragments - Chapter 184: Dominant Aura

On their wedding night, she gnashed her teeth, yelling, “Your Highness, that’s shameless!”

Set off by the flickering light of red candles, he curved the corner of his mouth into a wicked grin, “Actually, I can be more shameless…”

…

When they met for the first time, he was the young prince who lived in his day of brilliance, while she was the pampered princess of the adjacent state.

When they met again, he became the crippled underdog suffering from frustration, while she became the lackluster hostage stranded in an alien land.

In his mid-life, he was defeated in the fight and had his legs broken; his wife passed away and he didn’t have anything left except his father’s detestation… After constant blows took the edge off his spirit, all he wanted was nothing but serenity.

In her teen-age, her state perished and her home lost; she lapsed into an awkward situation after being abandoned and having her marriage annulled… As endless hardships isolated her from happiness, everything she wished for was no more than peace.

…

“Lu Zhishan, when I first met you, I didn’t think I’d marry you…too old,” after years passed by, one day, she lay on his laps mumbling, with a kind of hazy beauty on her boozy face, “and lame.”

“Mu Nanzhi, you have the wrong memory. At our first meeting, I’m neither old nor limp.”

“…When was that?”

“When people were celebrating your first birthday,” that man assumed all gentleness and joy crept on his eyes and brows, “On that day, you were ‘drawing lots’ in the rear hall. I also sneaked there to have a look. But, out of my expectation, you directly grabbed my true-love knot.”

…

How vivid the red love pea is embedded in the exquisitely carved dice,

Just as my feelings for you deep in my bones.

- Description from Novelupdates

Once through the pirates, Lu En became the son of Monkey d Dragon, a grandfather named Monkey d Karp, and an unreliable and neurotic younger brother named Luffy.

Fortunately, the ghost back system is activated!

The completion of the ghost back is 10%, and the training effect is increased by 100 times!

The completion of the ghost back is 20%, and the training effect is increased by 1000 times!

…

One day, Lu En, a ghost-backed master, appeared in front of Luffy who was shouting to go to sea, and made Luffy cry on the spot.

Luffy: “The pirates in the sea are all monsters like my brother? I don’t want to go out to sea!”

Garp: “For a long time, the two boys, Long and Luffy, with small arms and calves, I really doubt that they are not my sons and grandsons. Like Lu En, they are the grandsons of the old man!”

Warring States: “The strongest creature in the sea, land and air is Kaido? No, it’s Lu En!”

- Description from novelbuddy

Rex was an ordinary salaryman, resigned to a dull life of monotony in a towering megacity. But his world shatters when he’s conscripted by Nexum Dynamics, a ruthless megacorporation, and thrust into a brutal war for a barren, alien world. The planet holds unimaginable riches, but it’s also swarming with the Krhyssari, an insectoid race that dominates the surface with their hive-mind precision and relentless aggression. Amid the carnage, Rex had an extraordinary encounter with Cleo, an ancient AI, a survivor of a long-extinct civilization. Cleo isn’t just an artificial intelligence; she’s a consciousness imbued with memories of her people’s interstellar empire and equipped with advanced bio-nanotechnology. Offering Rex a new purpose and unmatched power, she transforms his fragile human body into a hybrid of living metal and flesh, making him the ultimate weapon. But Cleo is more than a tool of war. As she journeys alongside Rex, her cold, logical algorithms evolve, shaped by his humanity. Together, they form a bond that transcends the boundaries of man and machine, discovering love in the midst of chaos. As Rex and Cleo fight for survival, they uncover a shared ambition, to rise as intergalactic overlords, uniting or conquering the galaxy.

“Do you wish to know what will happen if I drink from your thighs?”Salviana drew in a sharp breath before she whispered, “I might die?”“No, It is I who will die if I don't,” he met her eyes with a lustful hungry gaze, “Spread your legs for me, Fiery-wife”And that she did...~~~{─────────────────~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}──Fiery is married to the demon everybody feared would destroy them someday. He is the greenest reddest flag but now she only sees white. A canvas to paint their love however she deemed righteous.~~~{─────────────────~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}──The Dark Prince, the third prince, is no stranger to the fear and hatred surrounding him. Cold, distant, and possessing a gaze as dark as midnight, he is known throughout the kingdom as the demon prince. But the truth hidden beneath his pale skin is far more dangerous—he is a vampire, living among a royal family that barely tolerates his existence.Salviana, a divine lady of myth, never asked to be married to such a man. Forced into the union, she is thrust into a life where every corner holds a secret and every glance feels like a challenge. Though her husband’s cold touch sends shivers down her spine, Salviana finds herself drawn into his world of shadows and intrigue, struggling to understand the depths of his darkness.With royal enemies watching their every move and Salviana’s own hidden powers slowly awakening, the bond between her and Alaric grows more complicated.Can she survive the dangerous world of court politics, where even her husband may not be fully trusted? Or will the weight of the secrets they keep tear them apart before they can discover the truth about each other?Caught between fear and desire, Salviana can’t help but wonder: Will she uncover the man behind the darkness, or will the shadows consume them both?Married to Darkness is a seductive, tension-filled journey into the unknown, where love and power clash in a dangerous dance that could lead to either salvation or destruction.