System Error: The Hero is a Villain? Chapter 03

System Error: The Hero is a Villain? Chapter 03

Days blurred together.

My system had gone dark the moment I arrived. No signal. No response.

I gave up on the useless thing and handled the missions solo.

Three tasks. Sleep with the male lead. Drain his fortune. Die.

Task one? Check.

Unlike the book, Lucian didn’t recoil. He smiled like sunlight breaking through storm clouds.

I cursed him under my breath. Freak.

I stood and headed for his office.

Time for task two. Milk him dry.

I barged in, bank card raised. “Lucian, I’m broke—”

A cold sweat broke over me.

The office was packed with suited bodyguards.

The second I opened the door, every head turned. Dozens of eyes pinned me in place.

Then, as one, they raised their guns.

Okay. Sure. My final task was to die by the male lead’s hand.

But I knew the difference between one bullet and a firing squad.

My knees buckled. I dropped into a crouch, hands over my head.

“Whoa! Easy! Just passing through! I’ll leave! Right now!”

A soft laugh came from the back.

Lucian lounged by the desk, head tilted, lips curved.

“Honey. Don’t be scared. Come here. What were you saying?”

The guns lowered.

My scalp still tingled.

No way I could finish that sentence now.

I shuffled over, all bravado gone, and whined in my sweetest voice.

“Honey, my card’s empty. Can you wire me ten grand? Just to prove you’ve still got it?”

Lucian took the card. Frowned.

Hope surged.

Was the derailed plot finally snapping back?

In the book, after Lucian’s bankruptcy, Lillian secretly drained his last funds.

That money was meant for his dying mother’s treatment. She withered away in agony.

It was Lucian’s deepest wound. The moment he turned black.

From then on, he despised greedy women with a burning hatred.

I watched his frown, heart pounding.

Was he finally starting to hate me?

The plot was back! I might actually finish!

But the next second, Lucian tossed my card aside.

Then, to my horror, he pulled out another. Black and gold. Infinitely more prestigious.

Lucian looked at my stunned face and spoke like he was discussing grocery prices.

“Why use trash like that? Ten-grand limit? What can you even buy?”

“Use my black card.”

Ten thousand dollars!

If this is your version of bankruptcy, what the hell am I? A street rat?

Sometimes, I laughed at my own poverty.

After days of drowning in luxury, I snapped out of it.

No. I couldn’t fall into this trap.

My mission was to follow the plot.

But this plot was so twisted its own mother wouldn’t recognize it.

In the book, after one night and one money grab, Lucian already loathed Lillian.

So why, after weeks of sleeping and spending, was he still smiling?

Hard mode?

I nearly screamed.

Then Lucian’s unfairly handsome face leaned in. He kissed my cheek.

“What’s wrong, honey? Who pissed you off?”

“Remember that limited-edition bag you couldn’t win at the auction? I bought you a whole room of them. Want to see?”

My gloom vanished.

“Yes! Please!”

Maybe this life… wasn’t so bad after all.

“AHHHHHHH!”

Midnight. Deep sleep. A piercing shriek tore me awake.

I rubbed my eyes, grumbling. “Who is that? Shut up!”

A familiar electronic voice sobbed. “Me! Host! Your system!”

I sat up, electrified. “You’re back! I couldn’t track my progress! How’s the mission?”

Silence.

Then the system whispered, “Good news and bad news. Pick one.”

I blinked. “Good news first.”

“Good news. Lucian’s affection for you is at 100%. Maxed out. You won him over completely.”

I glowed. I was thatcharming?

“Bad news?”

The system wailed. “Winning him over is useless!”

“Your job is to follow the plot with the male lead. But you haven’t even met him! You’ve been tangled up with the wrong manthis whole time!”

My brain stalled. “Wait. Lucian isn’t the male lead?”

“He’s not just ‘not the male lead.’ He’s not even human! He’s the primary antagonist of the entire novel! A ruthless, psychotic devil!”