《Angel of Mercy》Chapter 1
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Guildford, Surrey
October 1872
Emmaline Rhodes peered through the rain splashed carriage window and looked upon Lavender Hall for the first time.
It was an imposing manor cloaked in darkness and surrounded by thick forest. The black iron gates creaked behind them as they bumped their way along to the entrance.
A man waited out front. Tall and elegantly dressed. He opened the carriage door and assisted Emma down.
"Miss Rhodes, thank you for coming. I am Richard Huxley the butler here at Lavender Hall. But for your convenience you may simply call me Huxley."
It was dark and the man in question stood in the shadows, away from the glow of lights inside the manor and the light posts surrounding the circular drive, but Emma could make out ebony hair, wide shoulders, and the scent of sandalwood.
The rain was still pouring insistently, and Emma's cloak was doing a poor job of keeping her dry
"Pleased to meet you Huxley. Might we go inside?" she eagerly suggested, a slight quiver in her voice.
"Of course!" he exclaimed motioning for a footman to gather Emma's things.
Huxley escorted Emma up the steps and into a large hall. It was lit by a number of candelabras hanging from the high ceiling.
"Dreadful weather we've been having," Huxley continued. "Would you like to get settled first?"
Now that they were out of the black of night Emma could see Huxley was an older gentleman with thinning hair and a long face. He was slender and tall and held himself with an air of importance. His gray eyes, however, were sharp with intelligence and what Emma suspected was fear.
"No, let me see my patient." she requested.
Emma could see Huxley was relieved to hear this and quickly ushered her toward a large staircase.
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When Emma was notified by the Angels of the Mercy the nursing agency Emma worked for, that an earl had been in a terrible accident and required the services of a nurse she had immediately dismissed the seriousness of his injuries. The letter stated his accident occurred nearly a week ago, surely, they wouldn't have waited this long if he was truly that ill?
Keeping pace with Huxley she followed him up the staircase and down a long hallway, then another one until he stopped in front of a massive set of oak doors.
"Please do whatever you can," Huxley implored. And with that cryptic statement he led her inside.
As soon as Emma stepped over the threshold, she knew her mission would not be a simple one. The room smelled of death and disease. She was appalled at the state of the man lying on the four-poster bed draped with thick royal blue curtains.
"How long has he been like this." Emma cried approaching Lord Salisbury and touching his clammy forehead.
"A few days," Huxley replied.
"He's burning up with fever." Emma pointed out somewhat accusingly.
"Yes, I know that's why I requested a nurse."
Emma's eyes widened in surprise. "You requested me? But you're the butler!" This seemed extremely odd to Emma. A butler shouldn't be making life or death decisions for his employer.
Huxley seemed resentful of this reminder. "And as such it is my duty to serve my lord."
Emma began looking over the fevered man's body. "Does he have no family?" she asked. It was the only explanation she could think of that a butler would be this involved in his lordship's care.
"Parents are dead. No siblings. Just an aunt and cousin." Huxley relayed.
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"And where are they?" Emma asked curiously.
"They were here when the accident occurred but left a few days later for London."
"They just abandoned him?" Emma cried aghast.
"They thought it was only a matter of time before..." Huxley trailed off.
"Before he died," Emma finished.
Huxley nodded.
"Oh my," Emma sighed when she turned, Lord Salisbury and saw the wound on his side. "This is badly infected."
"That would be where he was stabbed by the tree branch." Huxley divulged.
"Exactly what kind of accident did he have?" Emma asked.
"He was thrown from his horse into a tree."
Emma grabbed hold of the bedsheet and pulled, allowing it to slip to the floor. He was naked except for his drawers.
His left leg was broken. That was obvious. Various other bruises appeared on his body though those appeared to be healing.
"Someone set his leg." Emma observed noting the cast covering his right leg.
"Yes, we called for a doctor when the accident happened." Huxley explained.
"And that was all? He hasn't come to check up on his patient?" Emma asked, already disliking this doctor but sadly not unfamiliar with his kind.
"I tried but no response."
"Has he been awake?"
"No."
"Not at all since the accident?" Emma clarified.
"No."
Emma shook her head. That was bad. Perhaps there wasn't much she could do after all.
"Please try to save him," Huxley begged again, apparently sensing her discouragement. "You have to at least give it a go."
Emma nodded; her mind made up. "All right. I'll do what I can. But we don't have much time. I'm going to need a few things."
"Yes, I'll get whatever you need." Huxley assured her.
Determined, Emma set to work. She requested someone fetch her medical bag, warm water, clean towels, and a tea service.
First, she bathed the earl's sweaty, clammy skin clean. His breathing was shallow and his pulse fast. All bad signs.
Then she did her best dressing the wound on his side. It would need to be changed regularly. The skin was raised and red and pus oozed from the punctured opening. If his fever was going to break this wound needed to begin healing.
Emma worked tirelessly for hours only stopping occasionally to take a sip of tea. Her patient would occasionally moan or grunt but otherwise showed no other signs of life.
His muscles were weak, and it was obvious to Emma he'd lost weight since his accident. Unfortunately, until he awakened, or should she say if, there wasn't much she could do. He needed food and nourishment to stay strong.
For the next three days and nights she stayed and slept by his side. Doing whatever she could, providing whatever comfort she might.
On the fourth morning. Her efforts were rewarded.
Lord Salisbury had awakened.
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Rise
Su Xue, a woman in her mid 20s, is struggling both in paying rent and finding her path in life. Her latest stint has her trying to become a popular League of Legends streamer, though to poor results. One day, she is interrupted in the middle of a livestream by a surprise visit from her landlady. She is informed that she will be having a new roommate. The landlady’s nephew, Lin Feng, a 18 year old boy who has just transferred over to Shanghai for his last year of high school.Though initially opposed to it, Su Xue reluctantly agrees to the arrangement. She learns that the two share a common interest—League of Legends—and that he’s really amazing at the game. Lin Feng also reveals to her he wishes to become the best professional League of Legends player in the world.The next day. Lin Feng attends his first day of school as a transfer student at High School 13. He meets Ouyang and Yang Fan, and the trio find a common passion in League of Legends. Lin Feng is then introduced to Ren Rou, the president of the esports club with a fiery personality, and Tang Bingyao, a quiet bookworm with a love for money and a surprising talent for the game.A little about Lin Feng’s past is revealed. He was a once pro player, the youngest in history and a contender for the best player in the world. Until the finals of the Season 1 World Championship. There, he lost to his arch-rival, an equally brilliant Korean youth. That was the peak of his career, and also the turning point in his life. He stepped down from his team and disappeared from competitive play altogether. Now, after a four year long hiatus, he aims to make a comebackOver the next couple of weeks, Lin Feng learns about the upcoming Shanghai 16 School Tournament, and that his school’s esports club had performed especially poorly the previous year. He agrees to coach the club’s team and help them win the first place trophy this year. And so, he starts the members of the club out on an intense training bootcamp.Meanwhile, the Season 5 League of Legends World Championship is taking place at around the same time. Tian Tian, one of Lin Feng’s former teammates and best friend, is on one of the Chinese teams playing at Worlds. After a poor showing, he is on the verge of a mental breakdown. Lin Feng witnesses everything in a viewing party with the esports club members and becomes worried.On the day of the Shanghai 16 School tournament, Lin Feng reunites with Tian Tian on the phone. He tells Tian Tian he’s going to return to the professional scene, that he’s making a new team and plans to invite him. But Tian Tian has to vow not to give up at Worlds and keep winning. Tian Tian agrees, and Lin Feng promises he’ll fight alongside him. Lin Feng then heads into his match with renewed resolve, to climb from the bottom all the way back to the top, and overcome the rival that defeated him so many years ago.
8 1136Phoenix's Requiem
Painfully shy and conflict-averse, Yun Ruoyan is a scion to a noble house only in name, a puppet embroiled in political machinations beyond her ken. At the tender age of eighteen, poisoned and at death’s door, she finds herself thrown out into the streets. Her relatives have all been executed, betrayed by her dear husband and her cousin. With her dying breath, she curses her own weakness and swears revenge.When Yun Ruoyan awakens once more, she is thirteen, transported five years into the past by the will of the heavens. Her death-defying experience has changed her: no longer is she the malleable creature she once was. But more questions await at every corner—what is the truth behind the birthmark that disfigures her appearance? What are the circumstances surrounding her mother’s mysterious death?Will the phoenix rise from the ashes, or will she fall once more in thrall to fate?
8 646Poison Physician Consort
Follow Bai Luochu on a journey back to the peak as she reincarnates into the body of an orphaned daughter of the former great general of the Cloud Water Nation.With the Three Great Immortal Sects in front of her, her mortal enemies who caused her death, how would she rise to the top again?With her astounding medical skills and ability to create heaven defying poison, Bai Luochu heals the crippled meridians of her new body and attracts the attention of all three princes of the Cloud Water Nation!
8 1749Rebirth of a Fashionista: This Life Is Soo Last Season
Cinderella went from rags to riches, but when you are already at the top, fate is more than happy to kick you down. A car accident kicks off Sheng Jiaoyang's reverse Cinderella story by trapping her soul in the body of a poor girl, leaving her to succumb to fate and wait for her Prince Charming to come to her rescue -- obviously not!Like a phoenix rising out of the ashes, Sheng Jiaoyang forges her own way back up to the upper echelons of society, clearing obstacles, taking revenges, and bagging her handsome and rich childhood friend on the way.If you are tired of reading about poor damsel in distress waiting for a man to rescue her, and wants a female lead that can carry herself to the top, Rebirth of A Fashionista is the novel for you!
8 274The Attack of the Wastrel
Her rebirth gave her a second chance at life. She was back with a vengeance and wanted to make those that had harmed her pay. But to those that helped her, she wanted to repay them. Her evil stepmother? She would slowly pull out her claws, one by one. Her evil stepsister? She would crush her pride. She thought that by getting her revenge for her past life, she would be happy in this life. However, she never would have thought that danger would chance upon her time and time again. The hatred from her clan and whether their bloodline would continue to exist, lay solely on her shoulders. Luckily, on this thorny path, someone had always been protecting her. "Third Prince, have you ever regretted being with me?" That person laughed lightly and peered at her with a loving yet weary look, "As long as I am together with you, I have no regrets."
8 1461Demoness's Art of Vengeance
Jun Xiaomo, notoriously known as “Lady Demoness”, finds herself chained and bound in a dungeon. Her hard-earned cultivation has been completely crippled, and she has no means of escape. Qin Shanshan, a lady she used to called her “close friend”, mocks Jun Xiaomo, revealing that Jun Xiaomo had been used by the people around her. Even her lover, Qin Lingyu was one of the masterminds scheming against her. Jun Xiaomo watches her life flash before her eyes and realizes that she had indeed blindly placed her trust in people. Her naivety had led to her current predicament. Jun Xiaomo wanted to end it all. However, she is determined to deliver a swan song. Over the hundreds of days tormented in that very dungeon, Jun Xiaomo had painstakingly painted a complicated formation array with her own blood. With a determined look, Jun Xiaomo burns her life force to activate the array. Her sole intent? To bring with her as many schemers to the gates of hell as she could. The bright red light from thearray intensified, and the end was nigh.…or was it? Jun Xiaomo opens her eyes and finds herself alive again; time had rewound right back to when she was sixteen years of age, albeit only at the eighth level of Qi Cultivation. Armed with the knowledge and memories of her previous lifetime, Jun Xiaomo is determined to learn from her mistakes and bring retribution to those who so deserve…
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