Touch Therapy: Where Hands Go, Bodies Beg - Chapter 123: Tides Before Dawn

Shoved into the backseat of his father's car right after graduation, Riley Hale ended up marching toward a company building with a bagged lunch and a pen.Still in his toga, the fresh graduate never thought he’d land in the office of the continent’s top lizard, err, dragon, as his aide.And that would’ve driven any person wishing for a corporate career to tears. After all, who wouldn’t want to serve the fastest ticket up the corporate ladder: Kael Dravaryn, the infamously elegant, unhinged, and extremely overpowered Dragon Lord of the continent?Well, that would be Riley.The same Riley who didn’t expect to spend his days dodging fireballs, dressing his boss in robes more complicated than dark magic, and serving as a literal target during morning sparring.Now trapped in a job he never truly agreed to, the hardworking aide decided to hold out until it was time for his glorious resignation. But leaving a dragon’s clutches could never be easy, especially one with elemental mastery and a finger worth a private army.Yet, as Riley, who longs to quit, attempts to navigate ancient politics, wyvern threats, and other accidents (many of which are definitely not his fault), he might just hallucinate himself into seeing something beneath his boss’s arrogance and molten glares.Maybe he’d actually care if Riley got turned to ash.

I had thought that my life couldn’t get worse when I walked in on my fiancé cheating on me with my best friend. But after a series of unfortunate events, I opened my eyes in a world that I had only read about in a webnovel, the Erudian Empire, ruled under the domineering, bloody reign of Emperor Helio.

The worst part?

I’m not even the main character! Reborn as Winter Royberg de la Erudian, I am the pitiful side character who is discovered to be a royal bastard princess due to a certain physical trait only the imperial bloodline possesses. But I know the end of Winter’s story and the unwanted royal punching bag is framed as a witch and killed at age 16 on the guillotine due to the scheming of the cruel empress.

An aloof, murder happy father? Check.

Psycho half-sister? Check.

Meddlesome author who wants me to follow the script? Double check!

I don’t want to die an early death again, so I’m determined not to ever be discovered as a royal again. But before I know it, I’m trapped in a palace of blood and opulence playing tricky games of power, games I have no clue how to win. How will I survive to adulthood in the imperial palace and get my happily ever after? And am I really the only person who fell into this world?

In the world of cultivation, countless tales follow righteous protagonists, fated heroes blessed by destiny, or those chosen by heaven to walk the path of immortality.But what of those who stand in their way?What of the villains? The so-called obstacles to the hero’s journey—do they not bleed, dream, and struggle as well?Xiao Ning was never meant to succeed.From the very beginning, the Grand Dao wove him as a stepping stone—a necessary sacrifice to elevate another. His path, like that of all designated ‘villains,’ was doomed to failure by design.But what happens when that design is defied?After death, Xiao Ning awakens—not in the cycle of reincarnation, but in the cold silence beyond it. There, he is offered the Eternal Paradox Codex—a forbidden artifact containing the hidden truths of the Grand Dao System itself.Rules. Loopholes. Vulnerabilities.Knowledge not meant for those like him.With this power, Xiao Ning is granted a single, impossible choice: accept oblivion, or step outside the Grand Dao entirely—to abandon fate, sever karma, and cultivate a path unbound by heaven or law.It is Xiao Ning’s journey, from ashes to something beyond comprehension.Not to become an Immortal among men.But something even the heavens dare not bind.If fate is a chain…Then let him forge his own path in the void beyond.Welcome to this humble tale.The cultivation world is vast and unkind.Let us begin again—on our terms.

It was the best cheat in the vast and ancient world!Its origin could be traced back to Trailokya and it was the highest law!…Three years ago, three living creatures fell from the sky. King Monroe of West Ridge got one of them and he conquered six countries to unite West Ridge.Wu Zhao of the Big Zhou Dynasty in the Southern Wasteland got another one of the living creatures. She dominated all 19 clans there and became the top figure in that region.Owen Bertram also got one of the living creatures. Yet three years had passed and he was still a nobody. Nothing had changed for him.However, he soon realized that the tiny loach that he got three years ago was actually the biggest cheat in the world.Moreover, it led him on a non-stop journey of becoming the biggest winner in life!