The Countess's lace-gloved hand caressed my cheek as she softly promised to take me to her castle for a life of luxury. Anna, the orphanage's self-proclaimed "leader", shoved me aside. She pushed me with such force I nearly fell into a mud puddle, then eagerly positioned herself in front of the black carriage, thrusting her chest forward. "My lady, choose me instead! I'm healthier than her, prettier too. Take me!" Her eyes were fixated on the gold trim of the carriage and the massive ruby adorning the Countess's neck. But she missed what I saw. As Anna leaned forward, offering her pale, delicate neck, the Countess's elegant black pupils suddenly contracted, flashing with an eerie red glow. It was the excitement of an apex predator spotting a delicious meal—pure, unbridled hunger. From the depths of the carriage came the faint, spine-chilling sound of teeth grinding. I quietly stepped back, retrieving the piece of stale bread she had trampled into the mud. Anna was already climbing into the carriage with jubilant excitement, her skirts gathered in her hands. She poked her head out the window, looking at me as if I were a sewer rat: "May you live a long life, sister. After all, garbage like this is all you deserve." I smiled too, taking a bite of the dust-covered bread. "May you live a long life as well, sister." In this world overrun with vampires, wishing someone a long life as renewable food is the cruelest curse of all.

"I've lived for three hundred years, yet never have I felt so alive," vampire Isabella whispers in the darkness. "How does forever sound?" Alexander asks. But as Isabella looks into his eyes, she sees the final puzzle Victor left behind—a werewolf's life is finite, while her immortality may become the cruelest curse of all.

Mark Thompson used to be the creative director at Westley Advertising—good job, perfect marriage, the whole package. But after his wife Emily's betrayal and his father-in-law's ruthless firing, his life completely imploded. Six months of drowning in alcohol left him broke, his bank card declined, and he's humiliated by the pity and scorn of strangers at a convenience store. Just when he hit rock bottom, a strange job posting appeared before him: Substitute teacher wanted at Westlake Academy. $700 a day. The phone interview was unsettling, but the money was too good to ignore. Driving out to the hidden, gothic campus, Mark noticed everything felt… wrong. His GPS died, the road narrowed into nowhere, and stone angels on campus seemed to be weeping. The receptionist, Sarah, was pale as paper, her unblinking stare freezing him to the bone. Worst of all, the job required him to descend into an underground facility—and follow five mysterious rules. When Sarah whispered, "This is as far as I can go," Mark realized he might be stepping into a nightmare with no return. But seven hundred dollars in cash was right there on the table. And when one is desperate, do he really have a choice?

"I fell in love with you in that library," Cassian confesses, tracing my scars. "And I should hate you for it," I whisper back. After being humiliated at her stepsister's engagement party, scarred Seraphina flees to Milan with help from her tormentor's uncle. As she transforms into a celebrated designer, their forbidden attraction ignites. But when evidence links Cassian to her mother's suspicious death, everything unravels. "Tell me," she demands, "did you help me escape because you loved me, or because you knew what happened to my mother?"

Just when I thought we had settled into our new life, my mom uproots us to Scotland to uncover her new obsession. Mermaids. I resign myself to unstable weather, cranky neighbors, and a division from the outside world. Then I meet Kayn, in his all glorified brawn and beauty—but soon learn his interior does not match up to his exterior. He's the most infuriating person I've ever met. Kayn makes sure I know I'm not welcome anywhere on the island, snatching every opportunity to make my life uncomfortable and inconvenient, and even goes as far as using scare tactics to convince me to leave. Then, I end up in a boating accident. Kayn suddenly emerges out of nowhere, plus a shiny new tail. Oh yeah. A tail. The hot, annoying merman ends up saving my life. This bold endeavor comes at a cost. I'm left with no other choice but to divert my mom's attention from making her next big discovery and sharing it with the world. This requires me to team up with Kayn. But that is if I don't end up killing him first.

In her previous life, Elara Winters died broken and alone, betrayed by her fiancé Dominic and her stepsister Vivienne. Reborn with memories intact, she has one goal: revenge. Her solution? A marriage contract with Dominic's uncle—billionaire Thorne Blackwood. To her surprise, the notoriously cold businessman agrees immediately, displaying an unexpected interest that goes beyond their arrangement. As their revenge plot unfolds, Elara finds herself caught in unforeseen emotional territory. When Vivienne launches a desperate, deadly counterattack, Elara must choose: pursue vengeance to its bitter end or embrace the unexpected love blooming amidst her carefully laid plans. In this second chance granted by fate, can she rewrite her ending and find happiness where she once found only betrayal?

"I've always loved you, Olivia," Ethan whispered as I tumbled down the marble staircase, my best friend Mia clutching his arm with a satisfied smile. Then darkness. Then… awakening, five years earlier. Armed with future knowledge, I rebuild my event planning empire while carefully orchestrating my betrayers' downfall. They believe I'm the same trusting woman they'll eventually destroy. Meanwhile, hotel magnate James Blackwood sees through my façade: "You move like someone who already knows how the story ends." As I accept Ethan's proposal again, Mia's friendship again, I set my perfect trap. The Hayes Foundation gala approaches—the exact anniversary of my death in another lifetime. Some people you should never give a second chance to kill you.

At Ethan's birthday party, I overhear him tell his brothers， "Selena? She's just an ordinary werewolf—fun for now, marriage? Don't make me laugh." For three years of our relationship, he never took me seriously. The cake almost falls from my hands; barely able to hold the phone, I call, voice trembling: "Father, I'll accept the arranged marriage." At my inheritance ceremony, Ethan rushes over—only to be cut off by the tall man at my side: "Sorry, stay away from my fiancée." Ethan becomes pale immediately.

"Ms. Sophia, I'm sorry to say this poison has no cure. You have only seven days left." I accepted this fact with remarkable calm, asking her to keep my condition a secret. Until my Alpha husband burst in— "What the hell is going on? You're perfectly healthy." The poison was administered by Flora, his most beloved sister. I was dying. In the hospital, as he carried a pretending-to-faint Flora away without a moment's hesitation. I decided to give him one final gift— My departure.

I once believed Terry Grant was my salvation. Until my brother's engagement party, when he showed up wearing my sister's perfume and gave her the gift I had personally prepared for him. I threw away the ring in front of everyone, but he used family interests to force me into marriage, only to keep me trapped by his side to torment me. He pushed me to the edge, yet when my heart had already died, he knelt down professing his love. "Eula," he begged, "I'll give you my life, just don't leave." I smiled. I drugged him myself, disappearing completely as he howled in desperation. Terry, your love came too late, and it was too tainted.