Cerita Pendek Feel-Good Story & Novel Independence System

I was born with a cursed mouth, and I was the unluckiest baseborn daughter of Northcott Hall. When I was seven, my older half sister stole my only winter coat, and I cried that all ten of her fingers would rot with frost. The next day she fell through the lake ice, and every one of those ten fingers festered. When I was thirteen, my stepmother locked me in the woodshed with no food or water. I muttered that she'd see blood before sunset, and half an hour later a panicked stallion broke her ribs. After that, everyone in Northcott Hall called me a calamity. My father said I poisoned the house just by standing in it. My stepmother accused me of killing my grandmother and dumped me in a paupers' burial field. I lived on bark and roots, and all I wanted was to carry my mother's ashes home to the Veyra Highlands. I'd barely reached the city gate when Beatrice arrived with Crown Guards and blocked my path. "The Dowager Queen has ordered a noblewoman chosen to be buried with the Emperor. "If Northcott Hall gives up a daughter, the whole family is honored. "You're an embarrassment alive. At least your death can bring this house some glory." My father took the payment with his own hands and ordered the servants to nail me into the coffin. What they didn't know was that the Emperor wasn't dead at all. A few days earlier, at a palace banquet, I'd seen him standing in the winter wind and said, "Dressed that lightly, His Majesty may stop breathing from the cold tonight." Before dawn, the palace announced the Emperor had no pulse. I kicked the coffin lid open, looked around at a burial chamber full of royal treasure, and smiled. "Your Majesty, I've come to lift your curse."

I was the King's most favored mistress — more indulged than any other woman at court. And yet, after all this time, I still hadn't given him an heir. That day, just as I lifted the fertility tonic Doctor Rose Saylon had prepared for me to my lips, a string of glowing text appeared out of nowhere, hanging in the air in front of me. [The hero really does spoil the heroine rotten, letting her waltz in and out of the palace disguised as a physician.] [Well, our girl doesn't want to be caged up at court, does she? Forget being the King's favorite — he would hand her the crown itself if she asked.] [Meanwhile the other woman is over here choking down her medicine like a good girl, no idea it's the slow-acting poison the heroine cooked up just for her. Poor thing comes from a military family, and the hero's only using her.] [And every single time our hero "visits" her, she's actually drugged unconscious first. Then his captain of the guard, Connor Browning, takes his place in bed.] My head was spinning. What in the world were these words even talking about? Had someone found out that I'd been eyeing that broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted guard at the King's side this whole time?

I am the only princess of Hawkridge. The moment the Skyveil opened, every ruler in the known world started looking at me strangely. "Mara, come back to Frostmoor with me." King Ronan Blackwood stood with a cold blade in hand, his eyes rimmed red. "You swindled three shiploads of gold out of me. How exactly do you plan to repay it?" King Sebastian Redfield advanced on me, working the counters on his counting board. "You even lied about dying..." Crown Prince Adrian Locke coughed blood as he clamped a hand around my wrist. My skin crawled. I tightened my grip on the treasury sigil I'd just lifted out of a hidden drawer and got ready to run. Then the door closed with maddening calm. Regent Elias Crowell blocked me inside his study, his expression cool and his gaze sharp as a knife. "Your Highness." "Your romantic debts out there are nearly settled. Now let's settle the account for what you stole from me."

As purebred humans, my sister Lily and I arrived on the Beastman Continent with the Breeding System, meant to help the beastmen breed and secure their future.. The system offered two talent trees for us to choose from. Lily hated the idea of pregnancy, so she jumped first and picked the low-tier talent: Surrogacy. I got stuck with the high-tier one: Litter of Many. We ended up mated to the wolf alpha and the tiger alpha, respectively. Lily had a wandering heart and secretly slept around with all kinds of beastmen behind closed doors. But she was terrified that getting pregnant would expose her affairs, so she kept using her Surrogacy talent on me. Over and over again, I was forced to birth litter after litter of low-grade beast pups. The whole continent was buzzing with rumors about me—that I'd spread my legs for anyone. My so-called mate, the wolf alpha Tyron wouldn't listen to a word I said. He called me cheap, a slut, a whore. Every time I gave birth, he'd kill the pups. In the end, I was tortured to death. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day the system was activated.

The school secretly introduces a new "bonus score for couples" rule for the SAT, but my boyfriend, who's the top student in our grade, and I overhear it. When I hear that couples can each get 100 bonus points, I joke, "Why don't we sign up and give it a shot?" However, he immediately refuses, all serious and righteous. "No, that wouldn't be fair to everyone else." After saying that, he hurries off without looking back. Feeling ashamed, I decide to apologize to him another day. But the next morning, he publicly announces our breakup in front of the entire class. Then he proudly declares that he is now dating my best friend, the girl at the bottom of the class. He says, "You're always second in the grade. You can get into a top university without even trying. But without those bonus points, she won't even qualify for a community college!" My best friend nestles into his arms. "I'm sorry. I know I stole your boyfriend, but I really need those extra points." I nod in approval and even lead the class in a round of applause, wishing them happiness together. Since my boyfriend left in such a hurry yesterday, he didn't hear the principal's next words. The new rule isn't about giving couples free bonus points. Their scores will be added together and then split equally between the two of them. I can't wait to see if that arrogant top student boyfriend of mine will still be laughing when he realizes his SAT score has to be split with my best friend, who can only manage a score of 400.

After finding out that I'm the illegitimate daughter of the richest man in town, Frank Gibson, I excitedly rush over to meet my biological father. But the moment I arrive at his mansion, I discover that 98 other illegitimate daughters are already lined up to claim him as their father. It turns out Frank's only son has died, and he now needs an heir for his trillion-dollar fortune. So, he gathers all his illegitimate daughters and plans to choose the strongest candidate through a competition. I know I don't stand a chance against the others. Just as I hang my head in disappointment and prepare to leave, a line of text suddenly appears before my eyes. "Don't go, darling! It's your mom. I'm the Queen of Hell, and I know how to help you win the competition. "Remember your arch-nemesis from the orphanage? She's one of Frank's illegitimate daughters too. If you leave, his entire fortune will fall into her hands." I whip around, and sure enough, I see my arch-nemesis, Sophia Carter. The moment I remember how she locked me in the pigsty ten years ago and stole my chance at being adopted, resentment surges through me. Because of her, I've suffered for another ten years. Fine. I'll listen to Mom. I'm staying. That trillion-dollar fortune is going to be mine!

On my wedding night, I find out my childhood sweetheart, Sean Clay, has a mistress who is highly fertile. She's already given him a son and a daughter. "My family line is dying out, and your health has always been fragile. Paige gets pregnant easily. With her around to take the pressure off, it'll be easier on both of us. As long as you don't make a fuss, I promise she'll never take your place." I can't believe what I'm hearing. I trash everything in the room and kick everyone out. Clutching my chest, I collapse in front of the bronze mirror, only for the glass to reflect me ten years into the future. The woman in the reflection is gaunt, her hair completely white. "I've already tried throwing a fit and divorcing him. It only led to mutual hatred and absolute ruin. Let me give you a piece of advice. Accept Paige. "She might be fertile, but most of her children won't survive past the age of five. The ones who do will end up mentally impaired." She taps the surface of the mirror, and a flood of unfamiliar memories rushes into my mind. When I come to, tears are streaming down my face. Looking at the aged face in the bronze mirror, I reach out to touch it. "I will save you. And I will save myself."

I had waited a month for Ascendant Group's college recruitment offer. When it finally arrived, Yvie Smith walked over arm in arm with another man while she smiled at me. "Carl, you should let Kevin take that offer instead." As I turned to her, everyone around me was holding back their laughter, waiting for me to cave and agree, like I had always done. It had been ten years. I would give her anything whenever she asked, from competition qualification spots and postgraduate recommendations to ten grand worth of hard-earned money… She was used to it, and I had since made peace with it. And now, she was looking at me loftily, speaking as if she were giving alms. "It's the same thing every time. How is it different now?" I looked at her haughty leer and suddenly laughed. "Who the hell are you to make decisions for me?"