secret of the lost kingdom

Leon Johnson had been working when he suddenly collapsed. After being diagnosed with cancer and given only three months to live, he decided to keep the diagnosis a secret from his wife, Rachel, not wanting to burden her. That evening, Rachel insisted he accompany investors for a drinking session that left him vomiting blood. Despite his condition, Rachel was constantly defending her first love, Yosef Lloyd. Leon managed to land a major contract and, excited about his success, rushed home, only to find Rachel feeding Yosef porridge, which sparked a heated argument. When Leon vented his frustrations to Rachel, she stormed out and climbed into a car with the drunk Yosef. In a tragic accident, Yosef crashed the car and killed Rachel's mother. Leon took his mother-in-law to the hospital, but the delay in getting there led to her death. The loss of his mother-in-law, who had always treated him like a son, hit Leon hard. But when he revealed the truth to Rachel, the wife he had once loved deeply refused to believe him, accusing him of lying.

Within the halls of Golden Feather Academy, wealthy stepsiblings Tanya and Leo, bound by family but not blood, hold court as the institution's dual reigning icons of popularity. As the holiday break ends, the queenly Tanya sets her sights on the newly elected Student Council President, Logic—son of the nation's president. At the grand ball, her calculated allure meets only his icy dismissal. Stung and pride inflamed, she makes a reckless wager with her notorious playboy stepbrother, Leo, who has just slipped into her bedchamber under cover of night: if Leo can seduce and shatter the seemingly incorruptible, iron-willed heterosexual scholar Logic within one month—turning his arrogance to ashes and his reputation to ruin—she will grant him the one thing he's craved for years: a night in her bed. The libertine Leo, who believes his charm can conquer anyone except the elusive Tanya, acknowledges the formidable challenge of making Logic fall in love. Yet, brimming with audacious confidence, he accepts, plunging them all into a twisted game of seduction and vengeance. However, as the month draws to a close, a chilling realization dawns on Tanya: not only has she been denied the sweet venom of revenge against Logic, but she may have irrevocably lost the mercurial, ever-devoted Leo—the brother whose affections she'd always held in a delicate, dangerous dance of veiled dominance—to the very heart he was supposed to destroy.

In their previous lives, the empress and the consort spent their whole lives locked in a bitter rivalry. It wasn't until their deaths that they uncovered the truth—they had both been pawns in the emperor's game. Their children were used to turn them against each other, and their families had all perished at the emperor's hands. Reborn, the empress returns to the very day the emperor falsely accused her of causing the consort's miscarriage. This time, she does everything she can to protect her former enemy. But before she can offer an explanation, she discovers that the consort has been reborn as well. Once they confirm their shared secret, the two women turn from rivals to allies, determined to take down the unfaithful emperor together. In their previous lives, the emperor's power was still shaky at this point, and he relied heavily on the political influence of both women's families. This time, the empress uses his greed against him and brings him to his own downfall. At the story's close, the consort embraces a life of peace while the empress ascends the throne with grace. For once, the women of the imperial harem live peacefully, free of rivalry. Who says a woman can't wear the crown?