System Error: The Hero is a Villain? Chapter 01

System Error: The Hero is a Villain? Chapter 01

I blinked awake to a heavy, velvet darkness.

Ragged, stifled breathing rasped in my ear.

I squinted against the low light and followed the sound.

A man sprawled on the sofa. Tall. Broad shoulders. Long legs.

He trembled. The corners of his eyes burned a vivid, fevered pink.

His black uniform hung open, a sheen of sweat glistening across his chest.

I jerked back.

Was he drugged?

What the hell was happening?

I nudged him. “Hey…”

Before I could speak again, he slammed me into the mattress.

Heat rolled off him in suffocating waves. My scalp prickled.

A low, gravel-rough voice brushed my ear. “Who are you?”

I froze.

Right. I’d transmigrated into a novel.

I was Lillian Hart now. The vicious side character.

In the original story, Lillian played the sweet, devoted girlfriend to the male lead, Lucian.

The moment he went bankrupt, she revealed her true colors. Greedy. Cruel. Insatiable.

By day, she burned through his last pennies.

By night, she chained him to the bed and broke him piece by piece.

When she grew bored, she left him in the gutter to rot.

He survived.

Then he snapped. Built an empire from blood and ash. And repaid her a thousandfold.

By the time she was clinging to life, he put a bullet in her skull and walked away.

My job? Follow that script. Torment him. Drain him. Die on cue.

Which meant…

The man above me was Lucian?

Click.

Something cold and hard pressed into my waist.

Reality snapped back.

A gun. Jammed against my side.

Holy shit.

Since when did he have a gun? That wasn’t in the book!

My soul nearly leapt out of my skin.

His voice dropped, icy with intent. “One more time. Who are you?”

Murder radiated off him in waves. I jolted.

I threw myself into his arms, sobbing exactly like the script demanded.

“Who else would I be? I’m your girlfriend, babe!”

He went rigid.

His voice came out rough. “…Girlfriend?”

I nodded frantically, terrified he’d pull the trigger.

“Yeah. Babe, don’t you remember? I’m Lily!”

“You called me honey yesterday. Now you’re acting cold?”

“I’m falling apart here. Boo-hoo…”

By the end, my voice cracked with real tears. Pure terror. But it sounded like heartbreak. Like devastation.

He let out a soft, dark chuckle.

The next second, his face hovered inches from mine.

Sculpted perfection. Sharp cheekbones. A nose like carved marble.

And those eyes. Gray-blue. Reflecting me like a mirror.

My heart stopped.

Definitely Lucian.

No one else in the book looked like sin incarnate.

“Honey,” he murmured, his tone shifting to something soft. Coaxing. Dangerous. “Since you’re mine… you know what to do when your man’s been drugged, don’t you?”

His breath ghosted over my ear.

A violent shiver ripped down my spine.

My pulse went wild.

What did he mean?

Was I supposed to sleep with him now? Like in the book?

But something was wrong.

In the original, Lucian flinched from Lillian’s touch. He recoiled.

So why was this Lucian leaning in?

He saw me staring, blank and dazed. He scoffed and moved to rise.

“Can’t even play the part. Pathetic.”

Fury sparked.

Oh, hell no.

I lunged. Grabbed his sleeve. Cupped his face. And kissed him like my life depended on it.