

When I went to reissue my mate certificate, the Werewolf Affairs Division told me, "Your mate certificate is a forgery. We have no record of your registration." I stared at the clerk, unable to believe what I was hearing. "But Sam and I registered five years ago. That's impossible. Could you please check again?" The clerk gave me a look before double-checking the files. "We found Alpha Sam's record. But the registered mate… isn't you." My voice trembled. "Then who is Sam's legal mate?" The clerk didn't hesitate. "Lily." I gripped the back of the chair, white-knuckled, just to keep myself upright. Until the clerk had spoken that name, I'd still held on to hope. Maybe it was a clerical error. A mix-up. But of all people, it had to be Lily, Sam's childhood friend. And suddenly, everything started to make sense. In five years of being Sam's mate, he had never marked me. We'd only held a mating ceremony—no certificate, no legal bond. I had given up everything for that ceremony, poured all my hope and love into it, believing I was his, only to find the certificate was fake. The five years I'd thought were mine—our happiness—had all been a lie, crafted and upheld by appearances. If none of it was truly mine, then there's only one thing left for me to do. Leave.

When Sophie Reed empties her every resource into a spirit summoning ritual, the universe sends her Leo Hayes, a cheerful young man in catastrophically loud floral shorts. The crowd loses it. Lowest-grade Contract Spirit in history, they say. What nobody knows is that Leo carries the Menace System, a power that feeds on breaking rules, shattering expectations, and generally refusing to behave. The more absurd, the more impossible, the more wrong he is by every known standard, the stronger he becomes. He slaps the original summoner clean out of the picture, casually evolves into the Divine-grade Contract Spirit World Heartthrob, and grins at a world full of rules he was apparently born to demolish.

I vowed to transfer schools with my childhood friend when he claimed he was being bullied. But the day before we were to finalize the transfer, he backed out. His friend teased him. "Man, you faked being a punching bag just to get rid of Alice Wiley? That's cold. You two have been thick as thieves since forever. Are you really cool with her going to a new school alone?" Shane Page brushed it off. "It's just another high school across town. Not a big deal. I'm tired of her always being up my ass. This works out perfectly." I stood frozen outside the door for a long time. Finally, I turned and walked away. On the transfer form, I crossed out Oatheport High and filled in the international academy my parents had been pushing for. Everyone seemed to forget that Shane and I were never equals.

I vowed to transfer schools with my childhood friend when he claimed he was being bullied. But the day before we were to finalize the transfer, he backed out. His friend teased him. "Man, you faked being a punching bag just to get rid of Alice Wiley? That's cold. You two have been thick as thieves since forever. Are you really cool with her going to a new school alone?" Shane Page brushed it off. "It's just another high school across town. Not a big deal. I'm tired of her always being up my ass. This works out perfectly." I stood frozen outside the door for a long time. Finally, I turned and walked away. On the transfer form, I crossed out Oatheport High and filled in the international academy my parents had been pushing for. Everyone seemed to forget that Shane and I were never equals.

I vowed to transfer schools with my childhood friend when he claimed he was being bullied. But the day before we were to finalize the transfer, he backed out. His friend teased him. "Man, you faked being a punching bag just to get rid of Alice Wiley? That's cold. You two have been thick as thieves since forever. Are you really cool with her going to a new school alone?" Shane Page brushed it off. "It's just another high school across town. Not a big deal. I'm tired of her always being up my ass. This works out perfectly." I stood frozen outside the door for a long time. Finally, I turned and walked away. On the transfer form, I crossed out Oatheport High and filled in the international academy my parents had been pushing for. Everyone seemed to forget that Shane and I were never equals.

To settle her father's debt, Vivian Gray reluctantly accepts Shane Ford's offer of 200,000 dollars to become his wife. On the day they register their marriage, both disguise themselves, unwilling to reveal their true identities. A year later, while working as a hostess at a film festival, Vivian accidentally trips and falls, unintentionally stealing Shane's first kiss. "Get off me!" Shane snaps angrily. "I'm sorry, but... your lips are so soft!" Vivian blurts out. The incident costs Vivian her job, and fate takes a surprising turn when she ends up becoming Shane's assistant.

Natalie had it all—engaged to football star Karl and carrying his child—until tragedy struck. Her brother caused Karl's sister's death, and Karl's injuries ended his career. Yet, she vanished for seven years. Now, Karl sees her with a "husband" and "daughter," seemingly happy. But he won't let her go.

Shawn Quinn, the CEO of the Quinn Group, had searched across the country but had failed to find the woman with a peach blossom-shaped birthmark on her waist. This unique mark signified that the woman was the only pure Yin body in existence. Shawn had been born with a pure Yang body and had to marry that woman to dissolve the Yang poison within him. If he didn't do this, he would soon die.

The mysterious secret agent Peter Rogers was awarded the National Medal of Honor by the President and had retired from the military. While dining out with his daughter Leslie, Peter is mistaken for a blind date by the beautiful CEO Sydney Greenfield, and the two unexpectedly get married. When his classmate and ex-girlfriend, who were unaware of Peter's true identity, encountered him again, they subjected him to various insults and ridicule. Upon hearing about this, Sydney publicly revealed that Peter was her husband, putting everyone to shame.

On her own wedding day, Jane Shaw sacrificed herself by taking the fall to save her in-laws and spent five years behind bars.When she walks free, she returns to find her husband’s childhood sweetheart, Wendy Wood, has slipped into her life like a cuckoo in a borrowed nest, adored by the very in-laws Jane once protected. Wendy plays the sweet, wounded innocent in public while weaving poison behind closed doors. But Jane didn’t survive five years as the prison’s top dog by being soft.Rather than strike hard and fast, she plays dumb, letting the scheming girl overreach, then springs a carefully laid trap that unravels every lie Wendy has ever told, right in front of the family. The question is whether she can reclaim what was always hers.