I Was Supposed to Be Crowned Emperor, but Now I'm Fighting Monsters

When Qin Mu, gravely wounded and unconscious, opened his eyes again, a beautiful woman in strange clothes looked down at him and said,

“I saved you.”

His wounds had indeed been treated, but all his clothes and equipment had been stripped off and set aside. Only a cloak covered him.

He struggled to his feet to thank her, but his weakened body gave out and he fell again.

The woman narrowed her phoenix eyes and spoke in a cool, disapproving voice. “You're badly injured. Don't move around.”

Qin Mu seemed utterly drained as he hunched over on the ground, coughing softly. Under cover of the cloak, however, his hand slipped into his holster and flicked off the safety.

When he looked up again, the woman had yanked the cloak away and pressed a sharp blade to his chest.

“I told you, don't move.”

That was their first meeting, witnessed by endless ruins of a city, a sky full of stars, and an approaching cosmic storm.

Later...

Qin Mu admitted when he looked back that he had fallen for her at first sight. Her Highness the Princess was breathtakingly beautiful, even as she threatened him with a blade in hand.

Because they were in the apocalypse, he couldn't help suspecting that everything was a trap set by mutated monsters, so at first he constantly provoked and tested her.

Wei Chujiu hesitated for a moment. In the end, to spare his feelings, she didn't tell him that it hadn't been a threat.

On the day of the suburban sacrifice ceremony, just before she was due to launch a coup, she had been forced to transmigrate to another world. Years of plotting had come to nothing, and at that moment, she had genuinely wanted to kill him.

● 1v1. More or less a story about a transmigrated rebel princess and the loyal dog she picked up saving each other in the apocalypse.

A peek at my next novel, now available for preorder:

Thorned Rose [Western Fantasy]

Blurb:

[Gathering of the Stars]

When she was born, the astrolabe trembled, and the stars of the twelve houses dimmed the moon.

The stars gathered and shone upon her.

[Rose of the Royal City]

The most flawless flower was to be offered to the Goddess of Nature after the festivities. But on the eve of the celebration, the princess plucked a rose from the arrangement and used it to brew a bottle of hair dye. The youngest alchemist in history was immediately praised throughout the kingdom.

At the banquet, the princess's curled red locks were hailed as the most beautiful rose in the royal city.

[Laurel of Afina]

A noble young woman cast off her jewels and finery to study magic at Afina Academy, renowned for its demanding and rigorous training. She was one of the most outstanding students of her century.

She was also the academy's undisputed top student, winning the laurel year after year.

[Grand Duchess of Serotis]

The kingdom's last remaining heir ordered the royal city guard to lay down their weapons and surrender. She personally removed the royal city's emblem and presented the enemy army with the Thorned Scepter.

Rumor had it that the Empire of Promi would grant her a noble title. Gossips mocked her as the Grand Duchess of Serotis, meaning “traitor to her country.”

[Heretical Witch]

The magical theories of the once-royal princess, now a celebrated scholar, were twisted and attacked by extremists. Her experiments were also accused of being witchcraft meant to corrupt people's minds.

They said the heretical witch must face the judgment of the Light.

[Fallen Morning Star]

Later generations said her death marked the end of the age of natural magic and the beginning of a dark era.

She was the last morning star, yet she fell all too soon.

These are the names recorded in history for Aiteria Xi Dela.

But no one knew that she had also left behind a tantalizing trace in the history of the Empire of Vanoidus, across the bay:

[Eternal Lover of the Old Palace] The King of Idos never married or had children in his entire life. The only one who stayed by his side was an unnamed lover, hidden away in the Nilu Old Palace, where he had lived as a child.

When fifteen-year-old Aiteria woke from a nightmare, her kingdom was still powerful, her family and teachers were in good health, and her companions remained steadfastly at her side.

Meanwhile, the future King of Vanoidus, a tyrant who would wage war again and again, was still a fugitive prince in exile. Ilai Xiu Pasnu, who would hide her body in the Old Palace and tirelessly seek to bring her back to life, was still only a fallen prince.

Yet those dark golden eyes were exactly as they had been in her dream. His love burned like a raging fire, never going out, even in death.

● 1v1, both reborn

Theme: Strive to rise, even when faced with adversity