ShadowBound: The Need For Power - Chapter 19: Fleeting Moments

Once upon a time, there was a makeup artist who possessed outstanding skills and top-notch aesthetic judgement. When he did makeup for various stars, he could embellish sharpness onto the smooth vases that lacked edges, and he could make models who exceeded the boundaries of aesthetics to appear delicate and soft, more approachable to people.

Male stars loved to request him, for he had a thorough understanding of masculine charm in particular, and the makeup he did was never garishly slathered in oils or powders, instead exuding a natural, dashing air of elegance.

Female stars loved to request him, because not only was he excellent in his skills, he was also everyone’s closest confidant; when they chatted, he could easily hold any conversation, and his mouth would be tightly sealed, never allowing anyone’s privacy to slip out.

Although this person was quite young, after getting by in the makeup industry the past few years, he was virtually considered as a distinguished personality in his profession, and would be referred to as a ‘master’ wherever he went.

But he had a terrifying secret. He needed to carefully tread on thin ice and couldn’t expose even the slightest traces; otherwise, nobody would invite him to work ever again, and nobody would apply to the classes he led anymore.

—He was a straight man.

- Description from Novelupdates

A kind girl falls in love with a vicious killer. Unhinged Yuri story set in Seoul.------“Like a prey waiting with a trap, I missed my predator.I missed her touch in the places I’ve never been touched.I wanted to hear her sing the songs that I’ve never heard.”------As the blood dripped off the knife she held firmly in her pale hand, I saw my reflection in the cold blade that had just taken the life of a man.I dreamed of magical moments like this every day.Something - someone to come and free me from the suffocating monotony of normalcy.She stormed into my life brandishing death, and in the moment of madness, my heart fluttered.Then she came to my place, uninvited. I treated her wounds and fed her. She slept on my couch like a cat. We started our lives together. Death bound us like the knot of tie I fixed for her as she left for work - to kill, kill, and to kill again.I spent countless nights sitting in darkness, on my couch hugging my knees, gripped with worry and excitement. I prayed for her safe return home, but I did not pray for the souls she’d be sending to hell.But she always returned, like a stray cat coming for food in the back alley behind a restaurant. I was the cook who put out the food for her, stroked her, and gave her shelter.A stray cat. A great feline predator. She was mine and mine alone.Together we laughed, alone I cried.Together we laughed, alone I cried.But I think we also loved.I think.------This is a dark and twisted psychological slice-of-life romantic comedy with a sprinkle of inspiration from the noir genre. If that doesn’t make sense, it’s because it doesn’t.

In her previous life, Gu Ying gave up her dignity as the legitimate daughter of the Duke of Dongping’s manor for Jiang Yin. She pestered him relentlessly until she finally married him.

Later, Jiang Yin rose to great power and status. He schemed against the state first, then killed her father and exterminated her clan.

She was betrayed by her scumbag husband and sister-in-law. They broke her legs and threw her in a dilapidated temple, subjecting her to all kinds of humiliations for ten long years.

After being reborn, Gu Ying returned, ready to take revenge.

The first step was to cling onto the “fiancé, Young Marquis Yong’an”, kick away the scumbag, fight the scumbag sister-in-law, and play the prestigious families of Bianjing for fools!

The second step of revenge was to cancel the engagement with the “fiancé” and flee to the borderlands, taking her younger brother to find their father!

The third step of revenge was to find a meek, submissive man to marry, staying far away from the scumbag husband, and live a happy life!

Yet she never expected that the leg she clung onto by accident did not belong to the Young Marquis, but the legendary, sinister and ruthless Crown Prince Zhao Changdu!

Everyone said the Little Prince was hard to handle. This time she would certainly lose her life.

Yet unexpectedly, she could not only handle the Little Prince, but also arrogantly ride on top of him. “Husband, you have cultivated excellent masculine virtues, your wife cannot run away!”

The subordinate was shocked: “Little Prince, you stay up all night reading, you wouldn’t be looking through the Dongli Punishment Illustrations Manual to torture your wife, would you?”

Zhao Changdu remained expressionless: “Thank you for your concern, but this Crown Prince is cultivating masculine virtues to please his wife.”

Demons, devils, ghosts and monsters

Plunge the mortals weak in horrors;

Arms of gods and blades of devils,

Shroud the world in untold evils.

Lu Sheng was an ordinary civil servant in the modern world. After waking from a drunken stupor one day, he found himself trapped in a dangerous world where demons, ghosts and supernatural monsters terrorize the land.

In this world, ordinary mortals live in dark fear and helplessness, without any means to fight against the supernatural.

As Lu Sheng struggles desperately for survival, he stumbles upon a game mod he had designed for a mobile phone app in his previous life. It unexpectedly becomes his special ability, which enables him to instantly level up any skill he learns, albeit at a cost.

Thus, Lu Sheng begins his journey, striving for power beyond the reach of a mortal as he treads the way of the Devil…

- Description from Novelupdates