Chapter 2

For the next two weeks, Nolan didn't come home.

He had just taken over Sinclair Group, and there was a mountain of work waiting for him.

I kept up my role as the Sinclair family's pampered wife, like chauffeur on call, designer goods delivered right to my doorstep, and even my afternoon tea came in twenty different flavors.

Nolan would call me from time to time, but all he ever got were my mocking and cutting remarks.

Yet for some reason, he never seemed to get tired of checking in on me.

On a thunderous, rain-soaked night, Nolan came home, the chill of the storm still clinging to him.

There was a gash at the corner of his eye, and blood lingered at his mouth.

I knew Nolan had been fighting in the underground ring.

Today was the anniversary of his mother's death.

Every year on this day, Nolan would throw himself into brutal underground fights with gangsters, refusing to stop until he was beaten within an inch of his life.

He used pain to numb himself, just so he wouldn't have to relive the nightmare of watching his mother get beaten to death right in front of his eyes.

"Here, drink this," I said, handing him a cup of milk.

Nolan slumped to one knee, looking completely wrecked.

"I'm not some nameless bastard," he said, his eyes full of grief as he looked at me. "And my mom wasn't the other woman who ruined someone else's marriage."

"I know," I said, gently brushing the hair from his forehead.

From the few lines in the novel, I figured out Nolan's story. He and the Sinclair family's heir were half-brothers.

The difference was, the heir was the golden boy, adored by everyone in the Sinclair family.

But Nolan, the villain, was abandoned by his father, lost his mother early, and grew up on the streets, begging just to survive.

It wasn't until Nolan showed his genius in math during high school that the Sinclair family finally brought him back for their own benefit.

"The one who's truly guilty is Edward," Nolan said.

Edward was Nolan's biological father.

"My mom married him before I was born. He was the one who cheated, and he was the one who caused her death," he continued, his voice quivering, his eyes bloodshot.

In the novel, Edward genuinely loved Nolan's mother, Isabelle. He married her, a girl from an ordinary background, despite the immense pressure from his family.

But just five years after the wedding, Edward completely changed.

He started hanging out in flashy clubs, bringing home a string of women, and kicked his pregnant wife Isabelle out of the house.

Later, Edward married another woman. Worried that rumors of his affair would ruin his reputation, he arranged for someone to kill Isabelle in a staged car accident.

Edward intended for Nolan to die in that crash as well, but Isabelle risked her life to shield him.

And Nolan witnessed his mother's brutal death with his own eyes.

Ever since I arrived in this world, my mission was to make Nolan suffer, but right now, I just couldn't go through with it.

I'd seen Nolan at seven, being called an unwanted brat by the neighbors, and Isabelle was labeled the homewrecker who stole someone else's husband.

I'd also seen him, after being bullied, clinging to Isabelle's gravestone, imagining it was his mother's arms.

He went through all this simply because he was the villain. The villain fated by the novel itself.

Nolan's eyes were brooding and tormented, nearly drowning in his own pain.

He said slowly, "If she hadn't tried to protect me, Edward never would've found her. She could've gotten away, but because of me. It was all my fault.

"Should I have never existed in this world?"

System: [Host, now's your chance. Nolan is at his weakest. Humiliate him. If you really tear him down, it'll push his darkness points even higher.]

Humiliate him? I wouldn't do it.

System: [I've got some vicious lines ready for you. Just say what I tell you next.

[Nobody wanted you. You're nothing but a mistake.]

"You were born because your mom wanted you. You were her most precious gift," I said, even as the system kept urging me, gripping Nolan's hand.

Nolan lifted his eyes, pain written all over his face. "But I'm the reason she died. Because of me, she never even had a chance."

System: [Exactly. It's all on you. You're the reason your mother died. Someone like you isn't worthy of anyone's love.]

"This isn't your fault. Don't blame yourself for someone else's mistakes," I said gently.

At my words, a faint light flickered in Nolan's eyes. He held onto me for dear life, like a drowning man grabbing the only piece of driftwood left.

"If she's up there watching me, and she sees me accepting the man who killed her as my father... could she ever forgive me for that?" Nolan whispered.

After the Sinclair family realized Nolan was a genius, they acknowledged him as one of their own.

Most people figured there'd be all kinds of drama between them.

But Nolan accepted Edward as his father without hesitation, and for ten years, he put on a show of father-son harmony.

Readers roasted him for accepting his mother's killer as his dad, saying he'd sold out for profit and could even forget his mother's murder.

I replied, "Not once did she ever blame you. Whatever you did, you had your reasons.

"I believe, if your mom is watching from above, all she ever wanted was for you to be happy. She never once regretted bringing you into this world."

I grabbed the first aid kit and carefully cleaned up Nolan's wounds, while the system kept nagging in my ear.

System: [He's the villain, and you're his vicious wife. What you're doing is totally off-script.

[Villains are supposed to be dark and scheming. They don't deserve a shred of warmth from the world.]

After tying a neat bow on the bandage, I turned to the system. [Fine, just make him forget. System, give me a memory eraser potion. Let Nolan forget everything that happened tonight.]

As Nolan closed his eyes, the whole conversation was instantly wiped from his mind.

System: [Host, you keep doing this. Memory eraser potions cost you a ton of points every time. Is it really worth it?]

After six months in this world, spending every day with Nolan, I just couldn't see him as the villain from the book anymore.

The first time I tried to humiliate Nolan, I smashed his mother's photo. The look in his eyes was so shattered that I broke down in tears, guilt flooding over me.

I couldn't keep up the act of being the vicious wife, frantically apologizing and trying to comfort him.

That was the first time I used my points to buy a memory eraser potion.

Cheating the system, I found ways to slip a little warmth into the villain's story.

System: [He's just a cardboard cutout. If you'd just followed the original plot, you'd have earned enough points by now.]

I watched the faint moonlight spill across Nolan's face. [He's more than that.]

He was not some cardboard cutout. He was real—flesh and blood, just like me.