Chapter 1
The System started a three-second countdown.
The System: [Mission: Order Alex Carter to grovel and clean the red wine off your shoe with his tongue.]
[Reward: 3 million dollars.]
[Punishment: Erasure.]
I looked at Alex standing before me. Disowned by his family, penniless, yet he still stood tall and proud.
He used to be the brightest star in the city's high society, but now he was everyone's punching bag, a stray dog nobody cared about.
He was also the male lead that the System forced me to torment.
The whole place went dead silent.
My so-called parents and their precious fake heiress, Vivian Stone, were looking at me like I was trash.
They were waiting for me to mess up, and for Alex to snap.
I smiled.
I picked up my wine glass and poured every drop of red wine onto my white heels.
Then I said, "Grovel on the ground and lick it clean."
Everyone thought Alex would snap and slap me across the face.
But Alex just looked up, his deep eyes showing no hatred. There was just the tiniest hint of a smile, barely noticeable.
Then he moved.
Under everyone's horrified gaze, he dropped to one knee.
The cold, mechanical voice hammered in my mind, relentless and unforgiving. [2... 1...]
It was like an invisible hand clamped around my heart. I could hardly breathe.
System: [Erasure sequence about to activate.]
No, wait! I screamed in my head. But on the outside, I kept up that arrogant villainess smirk.
I said, "Alex, what are you waiting for? Want me to give you a hand?"
I nudged his chin with the tip of my shoe, making the humiliation unmistakable.
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
My so-called sister, Vivian, the fake heiress the Stone family had pampered for twenty years, immediately stepped forward, on the verge of tears.
"Chloe, how could you treat Alex like this? He's already suffered enough," Vivian protested.
She placed herself protectively in front of Alex, soft and fragile, like a mother hen guarding her chick.
Poor? Bullshit. That guy got more cash in his account than her whole family put together.
She was the real pathetic one here. She didn't even know she was being played.
Internally, I was roasting her, but on the outside, I just curled my lips into a vicious smirk.
I said, "Move away. One more word and I'll drag you into this humiliation, too."
Vivian's tears fell instantly, dropping one after another like little pearls.
My dad, Jerome Stone, was so furious that his face was livid. He jabbed a finger at me and yelled, "Chloe, you disgrace! You've ruined the Stone family's reputation. Hurry up and apologize to Alex!"
My mom pulled Vivian close, comforting her, "Vivian, don't cry. It's all my fault. I should've never brought that disaster back into our family."
See? This was what my so-called 'family' was like after I had been taken back for a year.
To them, I was just the real daughter who'd spent twenty years lost to the world—a disgrace, a troublemaker, someone they'd never want to claim as their own.
But Vivian, the fake one who stole my place, was the only daughter they ever cared about.
The System: [Family betrayal detected. Hatred value +10086.]
[System mission completion assessment in progress...]
The mechanical voice echoed again, and I couldn't be bothered to waste time on these clueless fools.
All my focus was locked on the man kneeling before me.
In the original story, Alex was the male lead who swallowed every humiliation, only to rise as a king, take back everything, and make the villainess, me, pay in the most brutal way.
He lifted his head, looking past Vivian's shoulder and locking eyes with me.
There was no humiliation, no anger in his gaze.
Just a hint of helplessness and almost... dotage.
It was as if he was saying, "Can you get this over with? I want to wrap this up and have some rest."
"Hang in there, honey. Once we pull off this big one, I'll buy you the best massage chair out there." I shot him a frantic look, trying to signal him with my eyes.
Alex almost smiled.
The next moment, he gently moved Vivian out of his way. His touch was soft, but there was no room for protest.
Vivian staggered, looking at Alex in shock.
"Alex..." she called out, her voice shaky with disbelief.
Alex didn't even look at her.
He just stared at the glaring red stain on the tip of my shoe.
Then, with the whole room watching in dead silence, he slowly bent down.
His warm breath washed over my ankle, making me shudder.
Holy shit! He shouldn't actually lick it! The damn System never said he had to use his tongue!
I was so nervous that my toes curled up.
But Alex buried his face so low, using the perfect angle to block everyone's view.
My toe suddenly felt warm.
He swiped my shoe with his thumb in a flash, then stuck out his tongue and licked his own thumb.
He moved so quickly that it was almost invisible.
But he slowed down just enough for that dumb System, only caring about what it saw, to catch the "lick".
The System: [Mission completed.]
[Reward: 3 million dollars, already deposited.]
[Erasure sequence deactivated.]
The sound of a bank notification chimed in my mind, and my heart finally stopped racing.
Done!