

Charlie guards the Demon-Sealing Tower for 1,000 years, holding back three top-tier Beast Kings and hordes of Soul Beasts that all tremble at his blade. The Sky Kingdom royal court frames him as unfit for the post and forces him to abandon the tower. Half a day after he leaves, the tower shatters, and billions of Soul Beasts flood the Human World.

Every April Fools’ Day, Wilson Hale and Chloe Mercer turned our anniversary into a joke. A fake proposal. A trick ring. A room full of laughter. And every year, Wilson was sure I loved him too much to leave. This year, cake cream slid down my face, my ring hit the marble floor, and he still smiled like I would forgive him by morning. He forgot one thing. I was not Vivian Gray, the lonely girl with nowhere to go. I was Vivian Vescari, daughter of the most feared mafia family on the East Coast. I had left that world because I wanted to be loved before anyone knew my name. For six years, I thought Wilson was that man. Then I learned even his first confession had been an April Fools’ bet. So I stopped being the joke. I went home.