One Piece : Start As Celestial Dragon And Take Down Hancock - Chapter 90: Arranged marriage for Lakeman

To care for her ailing sweetheart, college student Lu Chenchen gave up her white-collar office job and chose the higher-paying caretaker profession instead. Going around in circles, she ended up at the Mao family’s home.

The Mao family background was complicated. Old Madam Mao was not her son Yanning’s birth mom, but his young aunt. His wife was Old Madam Mao’s first love’s daughter, spoiled and pampered. Despite over ten years of marriage, husband and wife were distant.

To repay Old Madam Mao’s kindness in raising him, and for the sake of his three children, Mao Yanning endured again and again – not just a loveless but outright destructive marriage.

Lu Chenchen walked on eggshells among these people – carefully serving young and old, currying favor with the lady of the house without offending the man of the house, while also worrying about his sweetheart’s illness and missing “his” elders and children back home. Her heart was like a cookie flattened between the pages of life, living a difficult and cautious existence.

However, as the saying goes, “You reap what you sow.” A life that has been polished will eventually shine with a brilliance that ordinary years cannot compare.

Razé was a cheat soldier at the age of 15, thanks to the memories of her previous life. One day, she was summoned by her superior – the devil Prime Minister and was ordered to go on a long-term solo mission. She was expecting a harsh mission, but…

“I knew you are the right person for this, Lieutenant Colonel Razé Orphan. I want you to attend the Centrior Imperial Magic Academy starting from this spring.”

“…..what?”

Well, it seems that she has been appointed as the “bodyguard” for the prince and other noble’s kids. And so, she was enrolled to the school where the aristocratic-sama gathered.

Although she was puzzled by the glittering school life, she was trying to live a life so as not to be bullied in the future. But it seems there was a secret that she didn’t know hidden in this world.

“Hey!!!!!! No one told me that this is an otome game!!!!!”

As a bodyguard, her life would be over if any of the noble kids got hurt. But then a young lady who claimed to be the ill-fated villainess came by. If the girl died, won’t she be dead too?

Today, Razé will continue to watch over her school life (with her own life on the line).

The clock struck midnight when Ruelle heard the echo of footsteps. She tensed, the fine hairs on the back of her neck standing on end in the cool night air.“You shouldn't be here,” Ruelle whispered, her voice a breathless murmur. The silhouette finally came to stand under the moonlight, his dark red eyes watching her and his inky black hair ruffling.“Shouldn't I?” His voice was a dark caress, and she stood there captivated by the danger he exuded like perfume.“I haven’t seen you for the last two days,” his tone low. His hand reached out, fingers brushing against the silk of her nightgown, tracing the trembling outline of her collarbone. “Tell me, were you avoiding me, or perhaps... entertaining other offers?”Ruelle’s heart raced, her breaths shallow. She declared, “I don't belong to anyone.”“A bold claim,“ he murmured, his breath a tantalising chill against her skin as he leaned in. ”Yet here you are, pulse racing, your body tensed as if in anticipation of my touch.”His fingers gripped her chin, tilting her face towards his. The moonlight caught his eyes, revealing a glint of predatory intent. “Or must I remind you whose touch you truly crave?”

The journey of a generation’s male empress started because of four words.

“Send a dowry escort.”

During the 19th year of Yuanqing, Qi Yunruo boarded a carriage and entered through a corner door of the second prince’s estate. Then, across the watery corridor, he gazed at the prince from afar.

Notes:

For aristocratic women in imperial China to marry into a family part of the upper nobility, they must be of the legitimate line and must also have an escort/dowry maid that married into that family. That escort would be a “ying” (媵) and could be considered a concubine.

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