The System tasked me with pacifying the villain. So, naturally, I picked the most brutal, volatile man in the duchy. I gave him my heart—and everything else. Six months later, the System finally rebooted: 【HOST! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WHY HAVEN'T YOU STARTED YOUR MISSION?!】 I pointed to the man sitting by the fire, the one patiently peeling the pith off a clementine for me. "I did pacify him. He asks ants for permission before he steps on them now." The System was silent for 1.5 seconds. 【...HOST. THAT'S KAEL. HE'S THE MALE LEAD. THE VILLAIN IS HIS GENTLE, SOFT-SPOKEN BROTHER, JULIAN.】 So, I faked my death and married his brother. At the wedding feast, Kael, who was supposed to be in mourning, crashed the party and cut down my guards. He used his sword to lift my bridal veil. "My new sister-in-law," he whispered, his eyes hollow, "bears a striking resemblance to my dead wife. It's... unsettling." "Perhaps I'll just peel your face off and make it a locket." 1 The snow was falling. I was curled by the fire, watching Kael. "Get all the white strings off," I ordered, kicking his knee. He just huffed a small laugh, his fingers expertly cleaning the fruit. He held a perfect slice to my lips. I bit his finger. Gently. He didn't flinch. He just fed me another slice. This time, his finger pressed the fruit past my lips and... lingered. I glared at him, my cheeks burning. He just smiled, his eyes dark. "Want more?" I wanted the clementine! Suddenly, a sound like a dial-up modem exploded in my head. 【HOST! WHO IS THIS MAN?! WHY AREN'T YOU ON-MISSION? I'M BEING FLAGGED BY THE ADMINISTRATION!】 I mentally gestured to Kael. "This is the villain. He's pacified. Now, where's my private island, my billion-dollar payout, and my spaceship, System?" A 1.5-second pause. 【...I've just cross-referenced the mission file. That's Lord Kael. The protagonist. Your target... is Lord Julian. His brother. Oh, Host. I'm so, so sorry.】 I was going to be sick. 2 Six months ago, the System dropped me into this world. "Pacify the villain. He's one of the Duke's sons. Good luck." Then it glitched and went offline. Working on pure stereotype, I scanned the available aristocrats. I picked Kael. He was the most ferocious, the most volatile, and, by far, the most beautiful. He was constantly threatening to "have people's heads on a spike." How was that not the villain? So, I got to work. I dedicated myself to the mission. I showed him every moon in the sky—shaky moons, blurry moons, moons seen in double... And I'd turned him into this. A perfect, quiet, fruit-peeling boyfriend. And now you're telling me I tamed the wrong man? That the actual villain is Julian? The soft-spoken, smiling, "gentle-breeze-in-a-meadow" brother? This is like telling a farmer he's been tilling the wrong field! "I hate you, System!" 【Host! I've applied for a 'death escape' protocol! You can fake your death, get a new identity, and go after the real target. Same reward!】 "You know, System, I've always valued our friendship." "So, what's my glorious death?" 【...Choking on a clementine.】 3 I heard Kael lost his mind. One second, the love of his life is laughing. The next, she's dead. Fruit. It was the fruit. He carried my "body" to every physician in the city. When the royal doctor pronounced me dead, Kael put a sword to his throat. "Say that again," he roared, "and I'll have your head." The System, narrating this to me, sounded confused. 【Host... I thought you said he was gentle now?】 "Oh, that?" I said, applying my lipstick in the mirror. "That was just a limited-time demo. The free trial expired." I was in a safe house, getting ready for round two. I stuck another gold pin in my hair. "System, are you kidding me with this new identity? It's just my old face with a beauty mark." 【It's a very strategically placed beauty mark! There was no time to re-render your avatar! I'll give you a hundred free-face coupons after the mission!】 "Forget it. Just edit the mission file. Make Kael the villain. I'm good at pacifying him. I'm really good at it." 【No! The protagonist belongs to the female lead!】 Ugh. That trope. "So all that 'pacifying' I did... all those late nights... that was for nothing?" 【...That was my bad.】 4 Lord Julian was the third son. Not the heir, not the favorite. He was marrying me, the "lowly daughter of a minor baron." But everyone came to the wedding. Including Kael. He looked awful. Pale, dark circles under his eyes. He looked like a ghost who'd lost his haunting grounds. I walked down the aisle, my veil covering my face. As I passed Kael, I felt a wave of such intense, cold energy that I nearly stumbled. It got worse when Julian took my hand. It felt like a thousand needles pricking my back. "System, he recognized me. I know it." 【Impossible! I patched the bug that made you mistake the target! He can't see you!】 To prove its point, the System generated a "sudden gust of wind" that blew my veil back. Kael just stared. Blankly. The guests, my NPC audience, all gasped. "An angel!" "The most beautiful woman in the world!" And with that, I was hurried off to the bridal chambers.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "385946", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel