dawnkoko

When Charlotte Miller spilled Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee on Alexander Sterling's Brioni suit, she thought it was just a workplace disaster—little did she know, this cup of coffee would lead to a $500,000 contractual marriage: one year of pretending to be his wife in exchange for the money to save her father's life. From a shy assistant at the "Miller's House" bar in Brooklyn to "Mrs. Sterling" in a penthouse apartment on the south side of Central Park, Charlie struggles to survive under Alex's cold rules. His icy blue eyes hide the shadow of his mother's suicide, while her emerald green eyes burn with an unyielding spirit. When Isabella Winters' vicious schemes and the dark power struggles of the family engulf them, Charlie unexpectedly uncovers her identity as the illegitimate daughter of the Count of Montclair—a noble title and Bordeaux vineyards become her weapons of retaliation. A first kiss under the Eiffel Tower, a confession by a hospital bedside, a reversal of fortune at the board meeting… Charlie transforms amidst the thorns into the helmswoman of the Sterling-Montclair joint enterprise. When Alex's eyesight is nearly permanently damaged protecting her, she uses her noble lineage and business acumen to protect his empire, finally declaring at their rescheduled wedding by Lake Como: "Half of my crown comes from my bloodline, and the other half from the thorns I've earned."

When a genocidal cataclysm strikes, the most ordinary of youths from another world must ignite the very first spark of magic amid despair—and in doing so, reveal every face of humanity. An unknown alien host—the “Apostles”—pours across the borders, and within days the human empire teeters on the brink of annihilation. Veylen, the protagonist, is nothing more than an unremarkable archer in the remote “Unyielding City” of the southwest, repeating the same cycle: nock, draw, hide. In the depths of ruin, he accidentally awakens a nearly forgotten “primal mana.” Leading a band of “Firstborn Mages,” Veylen slips underground and wages guerrilla war against the Apostles—until he uncovers the true reason for the invasion: the aliens themselves fear the unpredictable sorcery born of human emotion.