The Nameless Heir - Chapter 20: The Shadow’s Fate

“That baby is mine, and so are you,” He declared, pointing at Kate’s belly while his deep green eyes gazed at Kate, like a viper ready to strike.Kate couldn’t believe that he– Henry Grant, her new boss eight years younger than her, was the father of her unborn child.“We should be together by default. But I will give you a choice. Go and suffer with your deadbeat husband, or come with me, I will show you the fun you’ve missed.”=====For the past five years of her marriage, Katherine “Kate” Woods, 32, had always believed she was infertile. She was unable to conceive a child and her deadbeat husband Matt always insulted her for it, calling her a useless woman despite never finding a job himself, forcing Kate to be the sole breadwinner of their family.Yet, he still had the nerve to cheat on her with her own sister!Heartbroken, Kate escaped to her office late at night with four bottles of strong red wine. To her surprise, she wasn’t alone.A handsome young man stood in her office, watching her.He refused to give her his name, but offered to keep her company for the night. With lust and booze coursing through her veins, Kate readily abandoned herself to her basest, most repressed instincts, seducing the nameless but willing visitor.In her drunken stupor, she boldly declared, ”If my husband wants to sleep with every woman on earth, then two can play that game.“She didn’t care if they did it raw, as she always thought she was barren. Only to find herself staring at a positive pregnancy test a month later.Kate Woods, the supposedly ‘barren woman,’ was pregnant.The stranger had accomplished in one night what Matt could not in five years.Now that Henry has given her a choice, would Kate leave her deadbeat husband and jump into the sea of uncertainty with this young man?Or would she stay with Matt, her husband who cheated on her for the sake of their families?

“In a land far to the east, there exists a strange store that has rejected a three Michelin star rating multiple times.

The jeers followed her like a persistent shadow. “Murderer!” the crowd screamed, their faces contorted in a grotesque parody of the adoration she once commanded.Just months ago, they had screamed her name, their voices a deafening roar as she shimmied across the stage, a beacon of light and pop perfection. Now, their cheers had morphed into venomous hisses, their eyes burning with a hatred that chilled her to the bone.Noelle clutched her lawyer's arm, his face a mask of grim determination. The cameras flashed, capturing her every move, every tremor of fear. The headlines screamed: “Pop Princess Plummets: Noelle Accused of Murder.” The irony wasn't lost on her. Her life, once a carefully constructed fairytale of fame and fortune, had become a grotesque tragedy.The trial was a circus. The whispers, the sneers, the relentless scrutiny – it was a constant assault on her senses. Her once loyal fans, the ones who'd plastered her face on their bedroom walls, now reveled in her downfall. They devoured every salacious detail, every whispered accusation, every tear she dared to shed.The verdict was a foregone conclusion. Guilty.Noelle watched the judge pronounce the sentence, her mind a whirlwind of disbelief and despair. Death by lethal injection.‘At least they did not give me the electric chair’ she thought to herself in a poor attempt at humor.Months later, a solitary figure knelt at her grave, the wind whipping at his hair. Rain lashed down, mirroring the tears that streamed down his face.“I'm sorry, Areum,” he sobbed, his voice hoarse with grief. “I'm so sorry I was too late.” He clutched a single, wilted rose, its petals stained crimson, a poignant reminder of the life that had been brutally extinguished.Noelle is a bright star who has the world at her feet, she feels no guilt about being the other woman coming between a husband and his wife. After all, Evan had been in love with her since they were teenagers. The only reason he married Ma-Ri was because his family demanded it, if he had a choice he would surely have picked her…When she gets wrongfully accused of murdering Ma-Ri, she loses everything and is sentenced to death, everyone including Evan turn against her and she is left to die a miserable death.She is reborn and this time she faces the humiliation of being the woman who is being cheated on. She is determined to end the cycle and not let the future she had seen come to pass, she decides to step out of the picture and focus on her career.In doing so, everything changes, Evan clings to her and refuses to let her go, a mysterious stranger who has been studying her also steps in and decides to fight for a chance to be with her.

“The author wants to kill me! Why else would he plan so many insidious subplots centered around me, an Extra?”This was Han Xuhan's plight since he had transmigrated into a semi-familiar novel.The novel, written by a degenerate author, was truly messed up beyond description. All Han Xuhan had was a system that barely kept him alive from the dangers of this fictional world.But after he survived the introductory arc, the mad author even began influencing that system!Why else would the Quests issued by it be so difficult? Every time a new quest was issued, Han Xuhan could sense the author's killing intent through it!Ding![ Detected that host has met a child of destiny! Issuing Quest: Manipulate her for benefits! ][ Warning: She is a Regressor who knows your plan. And her hobby is skinning people alive. ]Ding![ Detected that host has met a legendary Ring-Grandpa. Issuing Quest: Trade him back and forth among your circle of friends to squeeze out all of his value! ][ Warning: This Grandpa can escape from the ring anytime! He'll refine your soul in hell when he figures out what's going on. ]Ding![ Detected that host has triggered an apocalypse by harvesting too much protagonist halo. Issuing Quest: Kill the harbinger of the apocalypse. ][Warning: His cultivation is three major realms above you. You're never beating him in a fight. ]As the quests grew more and more difficult, Han Xuhan finally decided that offence is the best defence; and so, to combat the author's murderous intentions, he attacked the main storyline itself!“Hahahaha! The author really loves this female lead, doesn't he? Let's see if he can save her from my evil influence! I will radicalize every precious character of his novel!”Soon, Han Xuhan discovered that this might not have been a great idea, because all the favorite characters of the author were crazy!Additional Tags: Time Travellers, Transmigrators, Reincarnators, Regressors, Machiavellian Characters, Ruthless Scheming, Villainous MC, Multiple Timelines, Paradoxes, Extensive Worldbuilding, System, Survival, Yanderes, Overpowered Female Leads, Enemies To Lovers, Villainesses, No NTR or Yuri, Mysterious Past, Bloodlines, Multiple Power Systems, Politics, Older Love Interests, Master-Disciple Relationship, Wholesome Relationships, Kingdom Building.