

The night I died, my whole family was busy celebrating my twin sister Elena's eighteenth birthday. Everyone thought Elena was going to die the next day. We're elves. My father worked as a clan guardian, and after Mom gave birth to Elena and me as twins, she stopped working altogether. We should have been a happy family. But from the moment we were born, Elena and I were bound by a witch's curse. Because Elena came into the world one minute before me, she took the full weight of it onto herself. She was never supposed to live past eighteen. From the day we were born, Elena was the family's treasure. Mom and Dad treated me like I owed her something. New toys went to her first. New dresses were always her pick. Every night, Mom would sit in Elena's room for at least an hour before she'd turn off the light. I always fell asleep alone. One night I had a nightmare and ran barefoot to find Mom. She was holding Elena and didn't even look up. "Go back to bed. Stop making a fuss." I kept telling myself: she's dying, of course they're kind to her. But every time I let something go, that splinter in my chest pushed a little deeper. Then the day the curse was supposed to take effect finally came, and naturally, that was the day my stomach cramped so badly I could barely stand. Mom and Dad didn't hesitate. They shoved me into the cellar and locked it from outside. I crouched on the stone floor with the smell of mildew everywhere and knocked on the door over and over. "Mom... Dad... my stomach really hurts, I can't even stand up... let me out, please..." One sentence came back through the door. "Your sister is dying tonight! Can you just give us one day? One day!" "But... Mom... I'm scared..." Nobody answered after that. The cellar went quiet. My eyelids grew heavy. My last thought was: if I were the one dying of a curse, would they come hold me too.
![[ENG DUB] I Was Trained in Death, Not Mercy](https://acfs3.goodshort.com/dist/src/assets/images/pc/common/f901131c-default-book-cover.png)
Ronald Brady, Death Valley's most gifted assassin, is rewarded with five beauties before leaving training. They are secret killers sent to test him—but he has already mastered absolute ruthlessness. He easily knocks them out and earns the title of number one assassin.Years later, he leaves the mountain and finds the poisoned Mabel Chandler, who is being hunted by Ghost Order assassins. She begs for help, but he coldly pushes her aside.When the assassins mock him, Ronald only glances up—and killing intent instantly engulfs the air.

Shaw Group executive Elliot Lowe is pushed down by his father-in-law, humiliated by his wife's sisters, and thrown out like an outsider. Heartbroken, he quits and takes the company's core resources with him, driving Shaw Group the edge of collapse. When the Shaw family comes crawling with pleas and threats, he shuts them down one by one, sues the ones trying to extort him, and watches the family fall apart. On his deathbed, Liam Shaw regrets everything and leaves Elliot the family estate, and Elliot takes over to rebuild it. In a marriage of convenience with charity liaison Joy Jensen, he discovers she's actually an undercover enemy, but she switches sides at the last moment. After betrayal and redemption on both sides, they start over on one simple promise not to leave each other.

Lily Sterry was a wealthy heiress disregarded by her family. She married Yoel Simpson, a rich heir, due to a arranged marriage. But Mindy Soal schemed to frame Lily because Mindy wanted to be with Yoel. This made Yoel to mistakenly believe Lily cheated on him. Amidst the entangled love and hatred in this intangible battle, Lily faced immense pressure from both the Simpson and Sterry families with unwavering resilience. Through her relentless efforts, she eventually exposed Mindy's conspiracies. However, by the time Yoel Learned the truth, he was full of regret, but it was too late. Having endured misunderstandings, betrayal, and amnesia, Lily finally regained her strength. She moved abroad and started a new chapter in her life with her two children and achieved great success in the medical field.

"My mother was a player in a quest. Once her mission was a success, she exited this world, leaving me behind with four Dragon Kings. The first was Ethan—the Golden Dragon King who controlled over seventy percent of the Dragon Realm’s Dragon Crystal veins. The second was Nolan—the Silver Dragon King, the strongest healing dragon in the entire Dragon Realm. The third was Ryker—the Black Dragon King, the commander of the Black Dragon Legion and the most feared battle dragon in the Dragon Realm. The fourth was Tony—the Crimson Dragon King, the supreme ruler of the Dragon Council who maintained order across all dragonkind. My four Dragon King fathers spoiled me rotten for sixteen years, giving me everything I ever wanted. That was until three years ago when Chloe, the daughter of the one that got away, returned. Since then, my four fathers believed her over me. Chloe claimed that I scared her while flying in the sky, so Tony personally tore off my dragon wings. When Chloe accused me of poisoning her, Nolan forced Dragon Venom down my throat—a forbidden potion that destroyed the spiritual energy within my dragon body. Once again, Chloe insisted that I had hurt her, so Ryker ordered my claws to be removed. Chloe said she didn't want to see me anymore. As a consequence, Ethan abandoned me in the mines where lowborn dragons were exiled. As I lay there in pain, my mother’s voice rang in my ear. “Seren, do you want to come back to Mommy?”"

When Julian, the true heir by blood, was finally brought back to the Family, my cold-blooded adoptive parents cast me aside. They sent me to "The Abyss"—a clandestine hellhole where billionaires and mafia bosses paid to hunt, rape, and slaughter human prey.No matter how humiliatingly I begged for mercy, I remained locked in an iron cage, passed around as prey for those bloodthirsty beasts.Days later, a photo of me—covered in whip marks, kneeling like a dog with a chain around my neck—made its way to my beloved fiancée, Vivienne.Standing before the press, the untouchable Mafia Princess sneered, her voice dripping with disgust. "He’s pathetic and utterly filthy. The Valenti family would never align with such trash. I'll be marrying Julian instead."On cue, the Russo family officially disowned me, permanently stripping me of their name.After I was tortured to death, the wedding of the century commenced, broadcast live worldwide to celebrate the alliance between two major mafia families.But right then, my "wedding gift" was delivered.When the box was opened, the entire room went dead silent.

Willa Grant, a wealthy heiress, is hit by a car three days before her wedding and left paralyzed for life. What she never expects is that her fiance, Ethan Shaw, has betrayed her again and again. To make his illegitimate daughter Yara acceptable to Willa, Ethan deliberately delays Willa's surgery and secretly has her uterus removed. Heartbroken, Willa wakes to the truth. She pretends not to know anything, and while Ethan lets his guard down, she secretly contacts her best friend Sophie and leaves the country for surgery. Afterward, Willa personally witnesses Ethan meeting Jenna at the orphanage, Jenna coming to the Shaw residence to provoke her, Jenna framing her with a staged fall, and Ethan and his family insulting her without mercy. With her heart completely dead, Willa fakes her death in a plane crash and disappears overseas. When Ethan hears the news at the wedding, he breaks down. When they meet again, Ethan can only hide outside her hospital room and watch her rehabilitation from a distance. Crushed by guilt, he decides to let Willa live the rest of her life without him.

I died on the day I was supposed to receive the Pack’s Distinguished Service Award. Three hours after I died, my parents, my brother, and my mate were just wrapping up the graduation party they’d thrown for my sister. While my sister, Ella, was posting a cozy family photo on Instagram, I was locked in our basement, using my tongue to swipe on my phone and call for help. The only person who answered was my mate, Ryan. All he said was, "Sophie, cut the drama. Ella's graduation party is important. Enough with the tantrums!" This was the ninety-ninth time they had let me down. And the last. I lay in a pool of my own blood, my lungs still. They thought I was just throwing a fit, hiding somewhere. That if they taught me a lesson, I’d come crawling back. But they didn't know. I was home the whole time. I was already dead.

I died on the day I was supposed to receive the Pack’s Distinguished Service Award. Three hours after I died, my parents, my brother, and my mate were just wrapping up the graduation party they’d thrown for my sister. While my sister, Ella, was posting a cozy family photo on Instagram, I was locked in our basement, using my tongue to swipe on my phone and call for help. The only person who answered was my mate, Ryan. All he said was, "Sophie, cut the drama. Ella's graduation party is important. Enough with the tantrums!" This was the ninety-ninth time they had let me down. And the last. I lay in a pool of my own blood, my lungs still. They thought I was just throwing a fit, hiding somewhere. That if they taught me a lesson, I’d come crawling back. But they didn't know. I was home the whole time. I was already dead.

Annie never knew her mother's love. Carole despised her, reserving all her doting affection for Fiona, the daughter of a past romance. Carole believed her marriage to Ben was a drunken mistake, and Annie was simply the regrettable result. Unable to bear the abuse Annie suffered, Ben resolved to take Annie and leave Carole for good. Despite this, on her own birthday, Annie chose to give her mother one final chance.