System Glitch: My Mate from “Love” to “Hate” Chapter 01

System Glitch: My Mate from “Love” to “Hate” Chapter 01 The Irritation points Fooled Me

Bad news: I’m dead.
Good news: I’ve been granted a chance to be reborn.
Rebirth is only guaranteed if I successfully win over the alpha. Fail, and I’ll be erased outright.
Hard work pays off—or so I thought.
I’d spent a year tirelessly pursuing this alpha. The affection points displayed above his head were practically overflowing, glowing bright red.
I was just preening with pride when the System suddenly spoke up. It took one glance at that blazing crimson progress bar and gasped: [Host, quit grinning. That’s irritation points.]
[If they climb any higher, he’s going to kill you.]
The smile froze stiff on my face.
No way. Absolutely impossible!
Over this past year, through my relentless efforts, I’d tamed this alpha—who spent his days fighting other alphas and skipping classes to hang out in the underground Arena—into a docile shadow who obeyed my every word and came running whenever I called.
If this wasn’t love, why would he bend to all my demands?
The System looked at me sympathetically: [Has it crossed your mind that he’s merely enduring humiliation, plotting something big behind your back?]
[A bug glitched the main system’s value display; the readings are reversed. Host, what unspeakable things have you done this year to rouse this much irritation in him?]
I ducked my head and twisted my fingers guiltily.
It was nothing major, really.
I’d forced him to dye his silvery mane into plain, well-behaved jet black; banned him from gallivanting with his packmates in the underground Arena, and dragged him to the Archives with me every single day without exception. Whenever he displeased me, I’d cry and throw a dramatic fit.
It turned out he wasn’t head over heels for me at all. He was utterly sick of me.
The System sighed: [You need to make amends. From now on, cater to his every whim to lower his irritation points. If the mission fails, you’ll die for good.]
Only by winning Caspian Bryn’s favor and completing the mission would I survive.
Mid-thought, the door swung open to reveal Caspian. His handsome, icy features looked as though coated in a sheet of frost. “What are you daydreaming about? Didn’t you say we were heading to the Archives?”
The second his words faded, the communicator tucked in his pocket flickered to life.
A chorus of young male pack members shouted through the speaker, “Alpha! The underground Arena matches start tonight!”
Caspian’s brows knitted tight. He glanced instinctively toward me, his tone sharp with impatience, “I’m not going. I need to stay with my partner—”
“You should go!” I cut him off hastily, my eyes wide with feigned sincerity.
Caspian froze completely. The arm holding the communicator hung suspended mid-air, and amber wolf eyes widened in pure shock, “What did you just say?”
I drew a deep breath and forced a gentle, demure smile, “I said, you don’t have to keep me company. Go fight in the Arena, stay as late as you want.”
Caspian narrowed his wolf eyes, studying my expression closely, as if weighing whether my words held any truth.
“You really want me to go?”
“Absolutely true!” I pushed lightly at his back to usher him out the door, “I already made plans to wander the market with someone else, and you’d only get in the way.”
Caspian stared at me for a full ten seconds, confirming I wasn’t lying or having a temper tantrum. The overwhelming alpha aura around him visibly softened; he looked noticeably relieved, and a long-absent smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“Well. I’ll come fetch you once the matches end.”
I stared at the black hair I’d forced him to dye, my guilt gnawing at me, and nodded quickly, “Off you go, hurry.”
Caspian turned and left, his steps light and unburdened—as a wild lone wolf freed after long captivity.
I pulled up the System Panel.
Great. His irritation points hadn’t shifted an inch.
How much of a grudge did this guy hold?