To afford the expensive rut-suppressant injections for him, I worked multiple part-time jobs day and night, never daring to take a day off even when I was sick. Until one day, I overheard the truth. "Elias ordered a $230,000 bottle of wine, and she's literally killing herself working for a $2,300 injection." "Haha, poor people are so cheap. You just feed them a few lies and they hand over their entire heart." "Just don't take the joke too far. If your Master finds out, it won't end well for you." That was when I finally understood. To him, I was nothing more than an entertaining game to kill time. It wouldn't be long before he kicked me to the curb. But what he didn't know was that my billionaire father had just found me. In three days. I was going to leave this place and step into my life as a wealthy heiress. 1. Elias was an Incubus I found abandoned in the pouring rain. At the time, he could barely maintain his human form. He was covered in mud, his golden curly hair plastered to his back by the rain, and his eyes were clouded with a hazy, mesmerized red. He was breathtakingly beautiful. I was completely captivated. By the time I snapped back to reality, I had already carried him back to my tiny, unfurnished apartment. I agonized over the decision. I could barely afford to feed myself, let alone an Incubus. But looking at Elias's pitiful face, I hardened my heart and decided to keep him. I kept him for five years. However, he continually delayed signing a formal Master-Servant contract with me. I always thought it was because Elias wasn't ready. I never expected that I wasn't his only Master. Walking past a private VIP room at the club where I worked, I saw a familiar silhouette. My footsteps faltered as someone inside spoke. "Haven't you had enough fun yet? The Master is coming back soon. Make sure you get rid of her before then." Elias pulled a cigarette from a pack and replied lazily. "She treats me pretty well, she's just too poor." "The apartment she rents is tiny, like a birdcage, and the soundproofing is garbage. I can never get a good night's sleep; it's so annoying." "Sometimes in the middle of the night, you can literally hear the neighbors going at it." Hearing that incredibly familiar voice, I froze in place. I stared at him in absolute disbelief. Shouldn't he be at home? Why was he here...? I couldn't help but stop, desperate to see clearly if the man inside was actually Elias. After some teasing laughter, someone mocked. "What kind of romance can poor people possibly offer?" "Does she know that the single bottle of wine you just ordered costs $230,000?" "If you really can't bear to let her go, just keep her as a secret pet on the side." "These poor girls are easy to break." A quick rebuttal followed. "How is that possible? Are you saying Elias actually caught feelings?" "Man, you don't even know. That woman works herself to death day and night just to buy him a $2,300 injection, and Elias doesn't feel a shred of pity for her." "Besides, it was always just a game anyway. Hahahaha, poor people are so incredibly cheap. Just feed them a few lies and they hand over their entire heart." "Right, Elias?" My grip on the serving tray tightened violently. My entire body went rigid. It was him. "Yeah." Elias gave a muffled, indifferent agreement. "The Master is flying back in half a month. Give it another seven days. Seven days is plenty of time to get rid of her." "What if she clings to you? I mean, you spent so much of her money. Poor people will literally fight to the death over money." "Does she have the ability to cling?" Elias's voice suddenly turned freezing cold. "I'll just throw some cash at her to make her go away." "Don't worry, Mia is very obedient to me. She won't make a scene; she'll just cry." "If she really refuses to listen, I'll just pull a disappearing act." The laughter inside morphed into flying daggers, stabbing directly into my heart. The pain was so intense that tears streamed down my face. So, Elias was never a stray Incubus. He had a Master, and his Master was incredibly wealthy. These past five years with me were nothing more than a game to cure his boredom. It wouldn't be long before he abandoned me. That night of "salvation" in the pouring rain had ultimately just been my own delusional fantasy. I desperately wanted to storm in and confront Elias. To demand why he lied to me. But the moment he turned his head toward the door, I turned and fled. 2. It was midnight by the time I got home. The second I opened the door, Elias's clear, bright voice called out. "You're home?" He was wearing a strawberry-print apron, walking out of the kitchen, his hands still wet from washing. "Late-night snack will be ready in a minute! I made your favorite spicy noodle soup, with extra lettuce." I forced a stiff smile and gave a soft "Mm." After changing into my pajamas, I sat at the dining table, my mind a chaotic mess. In this world, an Incubus holds a very low status, equivalent to a human's pet. They can be kept in captivity, beaten or killed on a whim, or even served as food on a dining table. When I first took Elias in, I was still a student. My roommates couldn't understand why I would want to keep an Incubus. "Incubi are dark, degraded creatures. Their brains are only wired for lust and manipulation; they don't understand actual love." "Mia, haven't you watched the news? So many pet Incubi secretly run away, and the brutal ones even eat their Masters alive. You're inviting a wolf into your home." "You should just sell him quickly. An Incubus in rut tastes better and sells for a much higher price." I didn't listen to a single word they said. Instead, I used my meager allowance to rent a basement apartment for him to live in. They didn't understand. I was an orphan. I desperately craved a family. I craved companionship. Thinking of Elias's gentle, obedient smile, I felt that keeping him for the rest of my life would be a wonderful thing. At the very least, he belonged to me. I didn't care about his low status; in fact, it made me feel safer. He was an Incubus. We could form a contract. Once I became his Master, he would stay by my side forever. That dark, damp basement became the only thing I looked forward to during that time in my life. Later, when I secured a stable job, Elias and I moved out of the basement. We currently rented a standard one-bedroom apartment. On the 18th floor. It was small, but it was incredibly cozy. We lived a very ordinary, but very happy life. Except... the place I considered our home was nothing but a "birdcage" to Elias. And all the tenderness and love he showed me was completely fake. "Here it is! Here it is!" Elias was beaming as he brought over the spicy noodle soup. He plopped down in the chair across from me, resting his chin on his hands, blinking his large, beautiful eyes at me. Every night when I got off work, he would cook me a late-night snack and keep me company while I ate. This was usually the most relaxing and joyful part of my day. But today, every second felt like agonizing torture. The table fell silent. Elias spoke softly. "Mia, I feel like... we might not be a good match..." I knew exactly what Elias was going to say next. Perhaps clinging to the very last shred of my dignity, I cut him off. "You want to break up, right?" "Okay." He looked slightly stunned and asked, "How did you know?" I looked at his face, bitter tears involuntarily slipping from the corners of my eyes. "Stop pretending, Elias. Is lying to me really that fun?" I opened my bag, pulled out a thick stack of printed documents, and slammed them onto the table. After discovering he was lying to me, I spent every last cent of my savings to hire an investigator to dig into Elias's background. When the file was sent to me, I finally learned that the gentle, considerate man who had been by my side for five years was actually the contracted Incubus of Chloe, a prodigious teenage pianist. They had attended a high-society gala together. Amidst the clinking glasses and flashing lights, Elias's eyes were entirely focused on the radiant young girl, his expression filled with absolute tenderness and adoration. "Elias, you lied to me for five whole years." "You played the pathetic victim in front of me, telling me you were persecuted, abandoned, and chased away. But in reality, you already had a Master. You lived a life of absolute luxury. You never actually suffered at all, did you? Everything you told me was a complete fabrication!" "What an incredible performance... For five years, I didn't notice a single flaw!" Elias's expression shattered into pure panic. Under the massive emotional surge, he lost control of his human form; his pointed ears, wings, and tail suddenly materialized. My eyes were bloodshot as I stared at him with pure hatred. "The rut-suppressant injections cost $2,300 each. Every single month, I worked myself half to death just to earn enough money to buy them for you. And you? How did that $230,000 bottle of wine taste?!" "Elias! You played me for an absolute fool! Was it fun?!" I violently stood up and flipped the dining table. The spicy noodle soup crashed to the floor, the pungent smell instantly filling the room. Elias fell silent. His face was unreadable, but his thick, fleshy tail twitched anxiously behind him. "You know everything?" "...I'll pay you back double for all the money you spent over the years, I..." "No need." I raised my hand and violently swatted his tail away, my voice dripping with absolute disgust. "Taking money from a degraded creature like you makes me physically sick." "Elias, my roommates were absolutely right. All Incubi are nothing but calculating, degraded creatures. You don't have hearts! And you will never understand love." "If I had known, I should have sold you the very first time I laid eyes on you." Elias's face instantly drained of all color. He swayed on his feet, looking like he was about to collapse. I grabbed my bag from the chair, opened the front door, and walked out. After leaving, I had no idea where to go. I wandered aimlessly along the side of the road. The winter night was freezing. Eventually, I just found a random 24-hour karaoke place. I sang, I cried, and I drank, aggressively purging all my emotions. When I was too exhausted to cry anymore, I just lay down on the sofa and slept. 3. At 5 AM the next day, the karaoke place closed. I wrapped my heavy coat tightly around myself and left. After thinking it over, I decided to go back to the apartment. Aside from that rental, I truly had nowhere else to go. Besides, I was the one who signed the lease and paid the rent. Why should I be the one to leave? If anyone was leaving, it should be Elias. On the walk back, I noticed someone had sent me over twenty consecutive text messages. I opened the chat. It was a DNA paternity test report. A while ago, a group of very intense people had tracked me down, claiming I might be the long-lost daughter of the billionaire Arthur Sterling, and demanding I go to the hospital with them for a DNA test. Terrified it was some elaborate new human trafficking scheme, I firmly refused. But Arthur's head butler, Mr. Thorne, was incredibly persistent. He had medical staff stake out my apartment building for a very long time. Eventually, just to get them to leave me alone, I gave them a saliva swab, a nail clipping, and a few hair follicles. And now... it was actually true. Mr. Thorne immediately offered to come pick me up and take me home. I paused for a moment. "Give me three days. I have some things I need to take care of first." The situation with Elias wasn't fully resolved yet. I am someone who draws very clear lines between love and hate. If it started clearly, it needs to end decisively. I still owed Elias one final, definitive goodbye. After today. He will go back to being a rich girl's pet. And I will go live my life as a billionaire heiress. After this parting, our paths will never cross again in this lifetime. 4. I didn't even make it back up to the apartment. In the courtyard of the complex, I ran straight into Elias. He was following closely behind a woman, desperately whining and apologizing. "Master... I was wrong, Master. You were abroad for so long, and I was so bored, I just wanted to find a cheap distraction to play with for a bit..." "Please don't ignore me. I know I made a mistake. But don't worry, she didn't taint me. You are the only Master in my heart..." My heart felt like it was pierced by needles. Taint? Elias actually used that word to describe me. I clenched my fists so tightly my nails dug into my palms, and forced myself to keep walking forward as if nothing was wrong. As we brushed past each other, the woman with the red lips and voluminous, wavy hair tilted her head and glanced at me. "Stop." She called out to me. "Are you the woman who took care of Elias's rut cycles?" "Rolling around with an Incubus... doesn't that make you feel degraded? You have terrible taste." Elias's face went completely pale. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and turned around to face her. But before I could speak, she slapped me hard across the face. "Ah—" A short, sharp cry escaped my lips before my right cheek started burning and throbbing. I looked up in absolute disbelief. "Why did you hit me?!" Chloe glared at me, her eyes vicious and ruthless. "I hit you because you deserve it. Did you not know he is MY Incubus?" "You dare touch my property? Do you have a death wish?" I couldn't hold back my retort. "How was I supposed to know he had a Master?!" "That's a lie!" Elias suddenly shouted loudly. "Master, it was all her fault! She seduced me! You know how it is... my status is so low, no one ever looks twice at me." "I never intended to betray you, Master! I told her from the very beginning, but she was easy and only cared about pleasure, and I was temporarily blinded by her..." "That was a great slap, Master. Does your hand hurt? Let me blow on it for you." My mind went completely blank. I stared fixedly at Elias. That face, which had been so incredibly familiar to me, suddenly looked like a complete stranger's. He seemed terrified of Chloe. His entire body was trembling. Suddenly, Elias looked at me with pleading eyes and gave a microscopic shake of his head. I understood exactly what he meant. I lowered my eyes and stood up straight. I said coldly, "Elias, we are completely done." With that, I turned and walked away, my steps growing faster and faster as the tears finally began to fall. The sorrow hit me like a massive tidal wave, dragging me down into an endless, suffocating darkness. If I hadn't experienced these events firsthand, I never would have believed that the boyfriend I had shared a bed with for five years possessed an entirely different, horrific persona. All the sweetness and happiness of the past had mutated into sharp blades, violently slicing into my heart. It turns out that love can be entirely fabricated. And acted out with terrifying realism. I was such an idiot. I believed Elias's lies so easily. When I finally got back to the apartment, I sat numbly on the edge of the bed, staring blankly out the window. Allowing myself to be completely consumed by the grief. 5. Mr. Thorne arrived exactly on schedule. Outside the gates of the apartment complex, a massive, understated but incredibly luxurious black Rolls-Royce was parked by the curb. Standing next to the car was a middle-aged man wearing a traditional, pale blue tunic, his face radiating an elegant, scholarly aura. The moment he saw me, his eyes turned completely red, and his hands trembled as he reached out to me. A strong scent of sandalwood washed over me, and then I was pulled into his arms, my cheek pressed tightly against his chest. A bizarre, unfamiliar feeling bloomed inside me. Is this... what having a father feels like? For the entire drive, I kept sneaking glances at him, unable to believe that the father figure I had been missing for over twenty years had suddenly, miraculously materialized. The wealth of the Sterling family was far beyond anything I could have ever imagined. The opulently decorated, gilded mansion felt like stepping into an actual royal palace. Sunlight streamed through the intricate carved-wood window frames, illuminating the priceless rugs. Every step felt like walking on clouds. For the next few hours, my father personally gave me a grand tour to help me get acquainted with the estate. After two whole hours, we had only managed to cover a small fraction of the Sterling manor. Mr. Thorne escorted me back to my new bedroom. "Miss, please make yourself completely at home. This will be your home from now on." I nodded absently, feeling incredibly light and completely detached from reality. Shortly after, he had a massive pile of brand new electronic devices delivered to my room. I picked out a phone that felt comfortable in my hand and inserted my old SIM card. The moment the phone booted up, a call came through. "Hello?" "Mia, I accidentally took your ID card when I left." Hearing Elias's voice, my expression instantly darkened. After a two-second pause, he continued. "It must be really inconvenient not having your ID, right? When do you want to come get it?" Incubi in this world aren't issued government ID cards, so Elias was always fascinated by mine. He liked to keep it in his wallet, carrying it with him everywhere, and would often pull it out just to play with it when he was bored. I thought it was just a cute, weird way of showing he loved me, so I let him. But now that we were broken up, him keeping it was entirely inappropriate. "Keep it. You can just throw it in the trash. I'll go get a replacement." "I can bring it to you." Elias said softly. "Mia... the other day, I really didn't have a choice. You know my life and death are entirely in her hands." "When we got back, she whipped me thirty times. It hurts so much. My back is completely shredded and covered in blood. Mia~ please, have a little pity on me." I closed my eyes tightly. What exactly did Elias mean by 'have a little pity' on him? It meant exploiting my endless capacity for forgiveness. It meant exploiting the grueling, backbreaking labor I endured to buy him those injections every single month. It meant exploiting the fact that for all those years, I lived as frugally as possible just to give him the absolute best of everything. And what did I get in return? I was stripped of my money, my heart, and my dignity. I must look like an absolute clown. My emotions boiled over. Suppressing the raging storm in my chest, I delivered my most venomous response. "Then why didn't she just beat you to death?" "What right does a disloyal, lying, manipulative Incubus like you have to even exist in this world? You deserve every single lash." "Elias, you make me physically sick." I cursed him with the most vicious, hateful words I could find. The other end of the line went dead silent. After a very long pause, he finally asked, his voice raw and hoarse: "Do you really hate me that much?" "Hate you? Of course I hate you. I wish you were dead." "Do not ever show your face in front of me again. If you do, I won't be able to stop myself from slapping you." With that, I hung up the phone and blocked his number entirely.
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