an attempt at exhausting a place in paris

The day my parents brought home an AI daughter, I lost my place in the family. Maddison Matthews was flawless. Gentle, intelligent, and obedient, she was the perfect daughter. Overnight, I became the problem child. Dad stopped hiding his disappointment. Mom compared me to Maddison in everything I did. Even my brother, Bailey, treated me like an embarrassment. "What else do you know how to do besides throwing tantrums and fighting for attention?" The day I finally snapped and shoved Maddison, Mom slapped me so hard my ears rang. "If you were even half as mature as Maddie, I wouldn’t be so exhausted every single day! Go to the Intelligent Excellence Academy and learn properly how to be an obedient daughter!" Then she sent me away. I was forced into a three-year exchange program at the Intelligent Excellence Academy, a place designed to train human children alongside advanced AI models. Three years later, my family finally came to bring me home. They called my name again and again, but I never answered. The director smiled calmly beside them. "Mrs. Matthews," he said softly, "you’ll need to say ‘Power On’. Unit 1314 no longer responds to human names."

The day my parents brought home an AI daughter, I lost my place in the family. Maddison Matthews was flawless. Gentle, intelligent, and obedient, she was the perfect daughter. Overnight, I became the problem child. Dad stopped hiding his disappointment. Mom compared me to Maddison in everything I did. Even my brother, Bailey, treated me like an embarrassment. "What else do you know how to do besides throwing tantrums and fighting for attention?" The day I finally snapped and shoved Maddison, Mom slapped me so hard my ears rang. "If you were even half as mature as Maddie, I wouldn’t be so exhausted every single day! Go to the Intelligent Excellence Academy and learn properly how to be an obedient daughter!" Then she sent me away. I was forced into a three-year exchange program at the Intelligent Excellence Academy, a place designed to train human children alongside advanced AI models. Three years later, my family finally came to bring me home. They called my name again and again, but I never answered. The director smiled calmly beside them. "Mrs. Matthews," he said softly, "you’ll need to say ‘Power On’. Unit 1314 no longer responds to human names."

On my sweet sixteen, my three brothers came home with a girl named Sylvie. They said I have to treat her like my family. I didn’t think much would change. But years later, everything did. Jace, my youngest brother, shoved me down the stairs for her. Asher—the oldest, who once promised he'd protect me forever—told me to get out. So I left. Quietly. They thought I was just acting out. So they took Sylvie to France, didn't even bothering to check in What they didn’t know was that I’d signed my name on a contract—one that aligned me with our family’s biggest rival by becoming their youngest chemist. Written in black and white, I could never go home again. The night they found out I was really gone for good? They broke. Every last one of them.

Three days before my marking ceremony, someone set fire to the bridal shop while I was inside trying on my ceremonial dress. Alpha Marcus threw the arsonist into the pack prison, sentencing them to the harshest punishment our laws allowed. I lay in the hospital bed, my body covered in third-degree burns, refusing to wake fully as the reality of my disfigurement sank in. In my semi-conscious state, I heard Marcus speaking with the pack's healing witch. "Alpha, we can still heal her completely with the ancient magic. If we wait any longer, Sarah will bear these scars for life! You just want Miss Rachel to be your Luna at the marking ceremony. This is cruel beyond measure!" "Let her keep the scars. I'll provide for her for the rest of her life, but if she's healed, she'll definitely cause trouble at the marking ceremony." "I promised Rachel that her pup would be welcomed into the pack with full honors. Only when Sarah is completely disfigured will she be grateful enough to raise Rachel's child as her own. The scars are necessary - at least this way, she won't dare mistreat the pup." In the corner of the room, where no one was watching, a tear slid down my burned cheek. So this was the truth. The marking ceremony I'd dreamed of was nothing but a lie. The mate bond I longed for would be my death sentence. If that's how it had to be, I would give him what he wanted.

Three days before my marking ceremony, someone set fire to the bridal shop while I was inside trying on my ceremonial dress. Alpha Marcus threw the arsonist into the pack prison, sentencing them to the harshest punishment our laws allowed. I lay in the hospital bed, my body covered in third-degree burns, refusing to wake fully as the reality of my disfigurement sank in. In my semi-conscious state, I heard Marcus speaking with the pack's healing witch. "Alpha, we can still heal her completely with the ancient magic. If we wait any longer, Sarah will bear these scars for life! You just want Miss Rachel to be your Luna at the marking ceremony. This is cruel beyond measure!" "Let her keep the scars. I'll provide for her for the rest of her life, but if she's healed, she'll definitely cause trouble at the marking ceremony." "I promised Rachel that her pup would be welcomed into the pack with full honors. Only when Sarah is completely disfigured will she be grateful enough to raise Rachel's child as her own. The scars are necessary - at least this way, she won't dare mistreat the pup." In the corner of the room, where no one was watching, a tear slid down my burned cheek. So this was the truth. The marking ceremony I'd dreamed of was nothing but a lie. The mate bond I longed for would be my death sentence. If that's how it had to be, I would give him what he wanted.

Sharon Smith, Judiburg's most powerful CEO, catches her "perfect" husband, James Godwin, having an affair at an auction—with Rosie Saul, the very student she has financially supported for years. The betrayal cuts deeper:James has been spending Sharon's money to spoil his mistress, and secretly poisoning Sharon to seize her fortune. Sharon stays quiet, sets a trap, and tightens the net step by step—until the truth detonates in public and the lovers lose everything.

Sharon Smith, Judiburg's most powerful CEO, catches her "perfect" husband, James Godwin, having an affair at an auction—with Rosie Saul, the very student she has financially supported for years. The betrayal cuts deeper:James has been spending Sharon's money to spoil his mistress, and secretly poisoning Sharon to seize her fortune. Sharon stays quiet, sets a trap, and tightens the net step by step—until the truth detonates in public and the lovers lose everything.

For six years of marriage, Winona Smith was kept in the dark—until she discovered her husband,Yale Gunson, was sheltering his lover abroad. Her heart shattered the moment he failed to show up while their daughter lay critically ill. Devastated but resolute, she ended the marriage. Picking up her career where she left off, Winona transformed from a homemaker into a luminary in scientific research—her papers graced top international journals, her breakthroughs earned global accolades. Just as she prepared to embrace a new life filled with happiness, the once-indifferent Yale completely broke down. Desperate and unhinged, he fell to his knees, begging her to come back.

After a childhood tragedy, Jenna Avery can see the dead. The ability doesn't fix anything. It just makes life exhausting and lonely. Then the spirit of Jasper Hart, a man left in a coma by an accident, shows up. Only Jenna can see or hear him, and their strange cohabitation begins. They bicker, help restless ghosts find closure, and slowly grow closer. But a nameless threat draws near and a buried past starts to surface. Can they survive, and can Jasper make it back to his body?

Grant Jenkins, an Eighth-Stage Warrior, descends the mountain to fulfill his marriage contract, only to be dismissed by the Nelson family, who wrongly believe him to be a useless, unskilled man. To protect their favored second daughter, Joyce, they force the gravely ill eldest daughter, Rose, to take her place at the wedding. During the ceremony,the Nelsons insult him and even attempt to tear up the marriage contract. Grant, unable to tolerate any more, unleashes his overwhelming strength, sweeping the entire venue with a force that shatters his enemies in an instant. Everyone is stunned to realize that this so-called useless man is actually a hidden martial arts master. From that day, Grant not only helps Rose defy fate but also crushes all those who belittled him, forging a legend of strength and power.

18-year-old Lila, deemed worthless for her inability to shift, faces betrayal from her boyfriend and sister, followed by her own father's attempt to kill her. When she meets Victor, the Alpha feared as the 'brutal monster,' both a fated romance and her dormant powers begin to stir…

In a devastating fire, a stepmother and her stepdaughter become trapped in an elevator, and Evelyn sacrifices her life in a desperate attempt to save Heidi. Unbeknownst to her husband, Vincent Clarke, Evelyn's tragic death occurs while he stands by the side of Heidi's biological mother, Fiona Lawson. Grief-stricken, Heidi cries out, "I only have one mother, her name is Evelyn Glover!"

In a desperate attempt to fulfill his comatose grandmother's greatest wish, Claude impulsively brought over a pregnant woman at the hospital and told his grandmother that the woman was carrying his child. Miraculously, his grandmother pulled through. However, that very night, Claude dreamed about the pregnant woman... Chloe initially thought running into her baby's biological father at the hospital was a mere coincidence—but little did she know, this man would keep reappearing in her life from that day on...

Tyler, chairman of Westove Group, discovers his wife Vivian's affair with his college classmate and their new family while expanding his business abroad. Upon returning home, he witnesses his wedding home occupied and his mother's heirloom destroyed. Furious, he vandalizes the property and initiates revenge. He exposes Vivian's betrayal, reclaims company control, and rebuilds his career and relationships with secretary Shawna's support. Vivian's attempt to revive her fortunes via new technology fails, leading to her social ruin. Tyler and Shawna move forward together.

David Ashcroft has spent his life training on Tempest Peak under a master who turns out to have one very specific weakness: he needs three million for renovations and isn't above bending the truth to get it. Conned off the mountain and broke, David answers what looks like a generous job listing and finds himself face to face with Aria Blackwood, a CEO who has just invented something powerful enough that foreign interests have put a bounty on her head. David neutralises the first assassination attempt almost by accident. He's hired on the spot. When a rival moves in under the pretense of romance to steal her technology, David dismantles the scheme in public.The rival is not gracious about it.

Bryce Davidson married into the Barber family and has never quite stood straight under the weight of it. On New Year's Day, his wife Ginny leaves to collect relatives and asks him to bathe their infant with a towel. Out of some small, stubborn impulse he fills the bathtub instead. The phone rings. He looks away. By the time he looks back, it is too late. In his collapse he hides what happened. He conceals the baby,covers the room, holds himself together through the Barber family's New Year visit. Every attempt by the relatives to see the child Bryce deflects. Ginny watches him, and something in the way he moves begins to pull at her. She can feel the shape of a closed door. She moves toward it.

Transmigrated as an abandoned snake clan offspring, Sam Cole barely binds to a system before his birth parents attempt to sacrifice him for his beast core. In this desperate moment, he triggers the Devouring System—gnawing bones, consuming demon beasts, and absorbing spiritual veins to evolve into the Infernal Ancestral Dragon! He counter-attacks and crushes his enemies, unifies the Demon Realm, and even confronts the Demon Realm's world-devouring laws, crossing dimensions to slaughter the demon ancestor himself! He establishes trade between human and demon realms and sets the order for all worlds, yet hidden ancient crises continue to brew—beyond this world, even more terrifying existences lurk. Watch as the useless snake rises, devours the heavens, and seizes control over life and death across all realms!

Rene Morgan is the long-lost daughter of the world's top tycoon. Tragically, her parents lost their lives searching for her. Consequently, the task of finding her was passed on to her three brothers. The eldest brother is a financial tycoon, the second brother is a movie star, and the third brother is a top surgeon, both locally and internationally. On the day her brothers received news of her whereabouts and rushed to find her, Rene was nearly killed by a malicious classmate. In their attempt to save her, her brothers got into a severe accident: one lost his memory, another became mentally impaired, and the last fell into a vegetative state. As a result, Rene work various part-time jobs to support them. However, when her adoptive parents force her into marriage, her three brothers suddenly recover. From that moment, she reclaims her status as a wealthy heiress, teaching a harsh lesson to those who wronged her.