Real Empress from a Noble Family - Chapter 16 - Cousin Qingyan's Origin

Tang Qiu was a substitute bride–forced to take her half-sister’s place and marry the young master of the Jiang family, a deformed cripple with less than 6 months left to live.

“Who would have thought that even a sickly whelp like Jiang Shaocheng would find himself a bride?”

“I hear that he’s practically on his deathbed and he’s only marrying the Fengs’ daughter to improve his lifespan.”

Tang Qiu ignored the whispers around her and focused on her husband-to-be, who coughed violently in his wheelchair. At the altar, after they had said their vows, she lifted her veil and knelt in front of Jiang Shaocheng, pressing a hesitant kiss to his lips.

The marriage contract was signed. No matter his physical deformities, he was now her husband.

She wasn’t afraid of the scars that marked his face, nor was she repulsed by him being confined to a wheelchair. Every morning, she made him breakfast, attended to his needs, and thought of little else beyond her duties as a wife.

“Young Master Jiang is a cripple who can’t get it up,” her best friend argued. “When he dies, you’ll still be untouched. You should set your sights higher.”

“A sickly invalid like Jiang Shaocheng can’t give you happiness,” her ex-boyfriend insisted. “I’ll wait for you.”

But Young Master Jiang only scoffed. “I have plenty of time left to be with her.”

Later in their marriage, Jiang Shaocheng wanted to enjoy his little wife in all ways–the press of her lips against his, the brush of skin on skin; the way a husband and wife were supposed to. But Tang Qiu refused him, blushing. “No, we can’t. The doctor says you can’t exert yourself.”

Jiang Shaocheng’s desire was surging through him, a heat in his core that demanded to be satiated. He cursed, I should have gotten rid of that doctor and the wheelchair long ago.

But he yearned to make love to his little wife, and so he revealed his true identity. In the blink of an eye, the deformed cripple transformed into a powerful businessman–tall, dark, and handsome. He quieted Tang Qiu’s protests, his body positioned over hers, his arms caging her as she lay on the bed. His voice was low when he asked, “What about now?”

“You call yourself a hero? After your greed killed my sister?”What would you do if all of your friends, everyone you ever loved besides your sister, died in front of you?What would you do if, because you were weak, everyone hated you and considered you a Wasted, someone who hurt humanity's chance to survive extinction?Adam continued fighting despite this abuse, because he still had 1 simple goal: even if he was nothing more than cannon fodder or wasted potential, he would keep his sister safe.But then, it wasn't the Kaiju or apocalypse that killed her. It was the Exalted, the strong, the heroes of society.The people he was supposed to praise were the ones who took his last hope in life away before killing Adam as well.So, when he regressed with a villain system that rewarded him for killing Exalted...[First Exalted killed!][Artifact: The Mantle has upgraded to level 2!]

After his death, Weiss S. Albus woke up under an unfamiliar ceiling. What came after a successful transmigration was none other than the memories of the previous owner’s body.Transmigrating into the modern world Blue Star, Weiss was confronted with a system screen in front of him.[Weiss, two months from now, the invasion from another world will destroy Blue Star. You need to prepare and let the entire human race have the power to defeat those invaders! Become a God-Level Game Developer!]Hearing the sweet yet resolute voice from his system spirit “Alice”, Weiss immediately made countermeasures!Invasion from another world? Create the Idle Tower Defense Game and make the defense of Blue Star invulnerable! Those flying lizards (dragons?) were shot down from the sky by a homing meteor turret!Lack of experience in dealing with a wave of monsters? Zombie Survival Online has been developed! Waves of evolved zombies, the hands of the military were numbed after playing the game!The humans need summoned monsters to fight alongside them for support? The Pocket Monster Game was created just for that purpose! Armed with dimensional pocket balls, the players gazed at the monsters and shouted “Gotta imprison and enslave them all!”As if that wasn’t enough, mages and warriors from another world invaded Blue Star! Weiss immediately developed Fantasia Online and let those aliens get a taste of their own medicine!After awakening the God-Level Game Developer System, creating game worlds that was no different from reality itself became the norm for Weiss Albus!“Invasion from another world? Let the human race treat this as nothing but a game! I, the God-Level Game Developer, approve!”Life is a game, but a game within a game? Only the God-Level Game Developer Weiss S. Albus can develop it!

Book I: Lost ThingsTristan Abrascal is a thief, one of many making their living under the perpetual twilight of the greatest city in all of Vesper. Quick wit and a contract with a capricious goddess have always kept him one step ahead, until one night he crosses a line by accident that burns all the bridges he had left. But not all is lost, as his mentor offers a way out of peril that turns out to be more than a simple escape.It is also an opportunity to get even with the infanzones, the nobles he’s lived under all his life, and it so happens that Tristan has a full ledger’s worth of scores to settle with them.Lady Angharad Tredegar has fled halfway across the world, leaving behind a ruin of a life: her family butchered by a ruthless enemy, their estate torched and their nobility revoked. Yet no matter how far she flees the blades of assassins follow, and she finds herself growing desperate for any protection. She has one relative left to call on, her estranged uncle, but she finds that the safety he offers comes at a cost.Angharad has sworn revenge, however, and her honour will allow for no compromise. She will do what she must to survive so that one day bloody vengeance can be visited upon her enemies.The paths of the two take them to the doorstep of the Watch, but for desperate souls like them enrolment is a lost cause. They will have to do it the hard way instead, by surviving the trials on the isle known as the Dominion of Lost Things.Where every year many go, and few return.Book II: Good TreasonsThe trials of the Dominion are over.The four survivors have become students of Scholomance, enrolling together as a cabal, yet even on those infamous grounds they soon learn none are beyond the reach of their pasts.Angharad Tredegar is returned to a semblance of the world she left behind, but finds her honor sorely tested by bargains offered - every bit as tempting as in the stories and even deadlier.Tristan Abrascal needs answers. Mysterious enemies keep trying to abduct him, his classroom does not exist and he’s now had several conversations with dead people. Worst of all, his carrots keep dying.Maryam Khaimov is going mad, which would worry her less if it were happening on schedule. More frightening yet is the possibility that she is not, and there truly is someone else going around wearing her face.Song Ren must forge the others into a functional unit, all the while fending off enemies on all sides: rival cabals, vengeful countrymen and the deluge of implacable foes her companions simply cannot seem to stop attracting.Failure is not an option, for Song must bring back honor to her family’s name whatever the cost: it is the only way to keep their disgrace from literally eating them all alive.And as the four chase shadows in Scholomance, in the distance looms the greater test awaiting them in the Asphodel Rectorate. Asphodel is a faded power, the rotten carcass of what it once was, but under that rot looms darker things - of which monsters might just be the least dangerous.Besides, is treason really such an evil when you have the best of reasons for it?