Velvet Naps and Vicious Men
By @john1208
The deal was struck in the shadows of a 1983 Rovigrad speakeasy: nineteen-year-old Tazia Morvane would provide the terrifying enforcer Krevan Dosk with a spotless alibi by marrying him, and in exchange, he would give her absolute silence. Desperate to officially retire by age twenty and escape the grueling factory quotas, the hot-tempered and fiercely loyal Tazia refuses to lift a finger in her new life. When she casually demands Krevan buy a condemned warehouse just to stop the noisy construction interrupting her naps, he accidentally acquires a monopoly on rare manufacturing components, becoming an overnight tycoon. Meanwhile, the ambitious transmigrator Sanna Tor exhausts herself trying to invent 21st-century microchips in the 80s, entirely overshadowed by Tazia’s lazy luck. Though Krevan maintains a ruthless, strict exterior to his syndicate rivals, he secretly spoils his fiery wife with imported silks and pastries. But the dark, tense underworld of Rovigrad is unforgiving. Told through alternating third-person perspectives between the unlikely couple, the story takes a deadly turn when Tazia’s beloved godfather is unmasked as the rival boss plotting Krevan's assassination. Can a girl who just wants to sleep wake up long enough to save her husband, or will her sanctuary burn to the ground?
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Vengeance in Vintage Silk
By @john1208
At my father’s dreary 1978 funeral, I made two vows: I would watch the Hrubis family burn for stealing our estate, and I would never lift a single finger to do it. Let others sweat; I was born to be a beautiful trophy wife. I immediately proposed to my childhood rival, Jaro Kolar, expecting a marriage of cold convenience. Instead, this infuriatingly capable man began cooking my gourmet meals, ironing my vintage silks, and scrubbing the floors just so I wouldn't have to 'ruin my hands.' Meanwhile, Milena Hrubis - armed with strange 'future knowledge' - is frantically trying to invent touch-screens in an era of rotary phones. She begged for our investment in a revolutionary overseas tech syndicate. My response? I used the funds to buy a diamond necklace and a velvet cushion for my fat mountain cat, Zivko. My sheer laziness saved us from what turned out to be a massive international Ponzi scheme. But as Milena's modern ambition unwittingly drags her family into ruin, Jaro and I realize her tech scam and my father’s downfall are the exact same conspiracy. Will my pristine nails remain unchipped when the real mastermind comes for us?
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The Lethal Art of Doing Nothing
By @john1208
I struck the perfect deal in 1988: I marry Kenjiro Shinjo, Neo-Kyobashi’s most feared syndicate enforcer, giving him a respectable family-man cover. In return? I get to be a completely useless, shamelessly pampered trophy wife. While cars explode outside our penthouse and rival clans wage turf wars, my biggest daily struggle is picking a nail polish color. Kenjiro genuinely thinks I’m a fragile civilian traumatized by the violence, violently forbidding me from lifting a finger. Meanwhile, Sayuri - a transmigrator convinced she’s the heroine of this era - is hustling twenty-hour days to build a retro real estate empire. She endlessly pitches me her 'groundbreaking' investments. I refused to sign her paperwork because holding a pen sounded exhausting. Ironically, my sheer laziness saved Kenjiro’s fortune from a catastrophic Ponzi scheme that ruined Sayuri. But as the clan wars escalate, bullets start flying through my favorite spa. My sweet, tea-brewing mentor Oba-san Chiyo keeps advising me to flee, but I’m starting to notice her matcha smells faintly of gunpowder. With my cushy lifestyle under threat, will I actually have to get off the couch to stop a mastermind?
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Fists, Fury, and Forty Winks
By @john1208
The 1979 Mudanport underworld is tearing itself apart, but Kuo Tzilan just wants to eat pork buns and sleep for twelve hours. Dragged to a chaotic syndicate funeral by her terrifying but doting husband - who is convinced she possesses a dangerously fragile constitution and forbids her from working - Tzilan fiercely refuses to participate in the gang war. Told in alternating third-person perspectives, the story follows Tzilan and Liao Bixue, an ambitious transmigrator exhausting herself to monopolize the booming shipping industry. While Bixue works twenty-hour days, Tzilan stays in bed, furiously sketching random scribbles to pass the time. When an eccentric avant-garde artist exhibits Tzilan's "doodles," Bixue realizes they are perfect blueprints of their enemies' hidden vaults. As assassins repeatedly interrupt Tzilan's naps - prompting her to violently dispatch them before her husband returns - the rival women form an unlikely alliance. But as the bodies pile up, a shocking truth emerges: Tzilan's past self intentionally wiped her own memory and orchestrated this entire war just to secure a peaceful retirement. Can Tzilan protect her fragile facade and her newfound ally without missing her afternoon nap?
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