Blurb：
I was given a second chance at life by the System—win the genuine affection of one of four targets: my brother, my husband Alexander Sterling, my shadow guard, or my son Ethan. But when Rosalie Dubois appeared with her protagonist’s halo, their hearts turned to ice. Mocked, cursed, and betrayed, I faced total failure. Until the System offered a new path: “Die by a male lead’s hand, and I will resurrect your original form.” So I made them kill me. But why did they go insane watching my body dissolve? Dive into a tale of betrayal, revenge, and twisted love where the System’s game becomes a fight for survival. Perfect for fans of revenge arcs, male lead redemption, and strong female protagonists.
Content：
I had four targets to win over—my own flesh and blood brother, the husband who shared my bed, the shadow guard I’d saved from death, and the son I’d nearly died bringing into this world.
The System told me that securing the genuine affection of any one of them would grant me permanent residency in this world, a second chance at life.
But the moment the impostor appeared, all that hope turned to ash.
For her sake, they mocked me, cursed me, punished me, wished me dead.
As I teetered on the brink of total failure, the System presented a new path, “Host, as long as your current body perishes under the torment inflicted by any of the male leads, I can resurrect your original form and return you back to your own world!”
So, I set my mind a new goal, to make each of them kill me, just once.
And just as they had all wished for, I died.
But why… why did they all lose their minds after watching my body dissolve into a pool of blood?
…
“Host, your vital signs are critically low. Do you require emergency assistance?”
The heavy iron door of the water dungeon slammed shut before me, swallowing the last sliver of light and plunging everything into oppressive darkness. It was then the System’s voice echoed in my mind.
Its cold, synthetic tone was a strange, perverse comfort.
“I failed again, didn’t I?” My voice was a fragile thread.
The System paused. “The grace period concludes in one day. Algorithmic analysis confirms your chance of success in this world is precisely zero percent.”
The answer was no surprise.
I closed my eyes, letting hot tears trace clean paths through the grime caking my cheeks.
Before I’d been thrown into this world of switched identities and fake heiresses, I was already dead.
The System had offered me a deal, win the true affection of any one of the four male leads within fifteen years, and I could stay here, alive.
Failure meant being utterly erased.
I had no choice but to agree.
But fifteen years of relentless effort shattered the moment I faced the protagonist’s halo of Rosalie Dubois, the fraudulent heiress.
The instant she appeared, everyone was captivated by her delicate-yet-unyielding facade. Even my own flesh and blood son chose her over me.
Just hours ago, I’d faced my fourth failure—my eight-year-old Ethan, desperate for Rosalie to marry his father, Alexander Sterling, had lured me into this lightless, flooded oubliette and locked me inside. My desperate pleas had fallen on ears deafer than stone.
Before he left, his childish voice dripped with a venomous satisfaction, “Now that you’re locked away, Mommy, you can’t stop Auntie Rosalie from becoming my new mommy!”
“Daddy says with Auntie Rosalie as my new mommy, I have no need for you—the wicked woman—anymore!”
His words were invisible hands, squeezing my heart until it shattered into a silent scream.
They were the final verdict on my failure.
The child I nearly died to bring into this world couldn’t see years of my sleepless care. He resented me for forcing him drink bitter medicine when he caught a chill.
Yet Rosalie, with a single furrowed brow and a whisper of, “All medicine has its poison, my darling Ethan shouldn’t have to suffer it so often,” had won his utter devotion.
A despair deeper than death settled over me. In that moment, clinging to a life of constant defeat in this wretched world no appeal.
Submerged in the foul, stagnant water, I processed the crushing totality of my failure. With a chilling calm, I finally dressed the System,“The points I have left… they should be enough to buy me a better place to die, shouldn’t they? I refuse to die like a drowned rat in this filthy, cold sewer.”
The ever-responsive System remained silent.
“System?”
After a burst of harsh static, its voice returned, “Host, confirmation received. This world qualifies for secondary objectives. New target automatically assigned, ensure your current body dies under the torment inflicted by a designated male lead. Upon successful completion, I will resurrect your original body and facilitate your return to your world of origin!”
I shot upright in the thick, oily water, my heart hammering against my ribs.
Honestly? Back in my own world? I’d take that deal in a heartbeat!
Confirming the updated task, a surge of grim energy coursed through me. I navigated the System’s interface, exchanged my remaining points for a heavy, weighted axe, and proceeded to smash my way out of the water-logged prison.
Perhaps my luck was finally changing. Not far from the dungeon’s ruins, I felt the cold kiss of steel press against my throat.
I looked up into a pair of chillingly familiar, dark eyes.
Liam Reed. My former shadow guard. My first failed target.
Fifteen years ago, I’d found him bleeding out in a ditch and brought him to my ramshackle home. After two years, we survived on scraps, two cast-offs clinging to life. When I was unexpectedly recognized as the true heiress of the Chamberlain family, I’d insisted they take him in, sending him away to train as a proper warrior.
He’d promised, with a fierce light in his young eyes, to become strong enough to protect me forever, to fulfill my every wish.
But later, after Rosalie “accidentally” fell into the garden pond, her tearful whisper, “I’m sure Evelyn didn’t mean to push me, please don’t blame her,” convinced him I was a venomous, jealous snake. From that day on, his blade was always drawn for Rosalie, who’d once offered him half a bowl of water, and always pointed in my direction.
Just like now. He applied pressure, the honed edge biting cold against my skin.
His gaze was a silent, searing warning,
“You’ll stop to any level to frame Rosalie, won’t you? Even making yourself look this pitiful.”
“A viper like you doesn’t deserve to draw breath.”
“… Get back to your quarters. Now. Don’t even think of disrupting Rosalie’s wedding, or you’ll learn what true regret feels like.”
Though it had been years since we’d exchanged a civil word, his contempt still found a way to sting.
A bitter, desperate thought surfaced. Remembering boy who was once devoted to me, I wondered, maybe he would help me now? He certainly wouldn’t want me alive to trouble his precious Rosalie, right?
I stepped forward, deliberately pressing my neck against the blade. Tears I didn’t have to fake welled in my eyes. “Please… just kill me.”
The skin parted. Warm blood trickled down my collarbone.
But I felt… nothing.
The System’s voice was immediate in my mind, “For tasks culminating in the host’s demise, we disable all negative sensations arising from the task-related actions are disabled. This is a standard humanitarian measure.”
No pain? Then there was no reason to delay.
I watched Liam, my anticipation a tight coil.
But he suddenly withdrew the sword. His probing stare twisted into a mocking sneer. “Evelyn Hayes, don’t think pretending you’re unafraid of death will make me pity you. Stop your pathetic play-acting! If you truly wished to atone with your life, you’d have the courage to do it yourself, not stand here groveling for my hand!”
He grabbed my arm, his grip like iron, and dragged me to the edge of a nearby frozen lake.
Shoving me forward, he pointed to the dark, fathomless center,, his voice as glacial as the ice. “Want to die? Prove it. Jump.”
If simple suicide fulfilled the System’s condition, would I be here begging him?
My hope shattered, replaced by a simmering frustration. But I wasn’t giving up. If subtlety failed, I would use force.
I lunged at him, catching him completely off guard, and slapped him hard across the face.
Crack!
The sound echoed sharply in the cold air. Shock, then pure, unadulterated fury contorted his features. “Evelyn Hayes! Have you lost your mind?!”
His neck flushed crimson, his expression terrifying.
Before, bound by the need to win his affection, I’d never dared to defy him. Now, my only thought was to provoke him into running me through. His blind devotion to Rosalie was the perfect lever.
“I am insane!” I screamed, the words tearing from my throat.
“You’re nothing but a stray dog my family took pity on! Do you actually dare to kill me?”
“I swear, if that bitch Rosalie shows her face near me again, I’ll make her fall look like an accident! As long as I draw breath, I’ll find a way to ruin her!”
With each venomous word, his rage visibly mounted. His knuckles turned white on the hilt of his sword again, his chest heaving.
This was it!
Hiding my sudden, wild elation, I stepped closer, pressing my chest directly towards the sharp tip of his blade, my lips curling into a sneer. “All bark, no bite.”
“Kill me… for your beloved Rosalie? For the woman who barely acknowledges your existence?”
“Liam Reed, tell me… do you even have the guts?”
The tip pierced my damp clothes, a spot of crimson blooming against the fabric.
Just as I thought my venom had finally worked, just as I tasted the sweet promise of freedom, he suddenly stumbled back as if burned. His expression shifted into something unreadable, complex, and deeply conflicted.
“Evelyn Hayes… how can any woman be so vile?”
He spat the words and fled.
Disappointment washed over me.
Useless. Even with the arrow nocked, he only knew how to shout.
Alexander Sterling was busy entertaining his precious mistress, he wouldn’t have time for me.
After some thought, I decided to go home. To find my half-brother, Adrian Chamberlain.
I was twelve when I returned to the Chamberlain manor, smelling like the boondocks, completely out of place.
Among my peers, only Adrian didn’t down on me. He was kind.
He patiently taught me complicated words, stood up for me when rich girls made fun of me, knelt beside me when I was punished, even took a knife for me with his painting hand—his right hand.
“Don’t be scared of anything. I am here.”
“I will always protect you.”
I’d almost pulled it off with him.
The System said the progress was 95%. Just a little more affection, and I could stay alive.
But then, Rosalie Dubois, who’d been sent away by Lord Chamberlain, came back. She didn’t need to do anything. When Adrian was nice to me, she’d just look hurt and walk off.
Adrian would drop me in a heartbeat to go after her—after all, how could some cheap copy ever compare to the real thing?
Later, convinced by others that I was some jealous psycho torturing Rosalie, his kindness dried up.
Even after I handed him the huge fortune left by Lady Chamberlain to help him get ahead. Even after I saved his life and nearly poisoned myself doing it.
He still chose to hate me for Rosalie, brushing off everything I did, “I never asked for your help! It was all your self-righteous crap!”
Like always, the second Adrian saw me in the Chamberlain gardens, disgust twisted his face.
“What are you doing here?”
“Need I remind you again? You don’t belong in this house.”
He reeked of booze. Next to him was a freshly finished portrait.
The subject? Rosalie Dubois, sitting pretty right on top of his heart.
The beauty in the painting smiled, looking almost real.
I crossed my arms, pointing at the painting, my voice full of sarcasm. “In an hour, Alexander Sterling will be busy knocking up Rosalie. And you? Still just doodling with that useless brush of yours?”
“Got the guts to storm Sterling Manor and take her back?”
“Oh, right. I forgot. You’re just a spineless coward who only knows how to yell at his own sister.”
“… So what if you did all that for Rosalie? You love her like she’s the one, but she barely sees you as human. Pathetic, isn’t it?”
It felt so damn good to let loose like this again!
Pure satisfaction!
A grin spread across my face as I kept going.
Adrian lost it. He grabbed the inkstone next to him and hurled it. I didn’t move. It struck my head, blood pouring down.
Furious, he pointed towards the gate. “You don’t get to say Rosalie’s name! Get out! Now!”
Amidst servants screaming, blood covered half my face. I didn’t feel a thing. I charged forward, ripped that amateur painting to shreds, and stared right back at him.
“That’s all you’ve got?”
“Tsk, tsk… useless at everything. A total failure… If I were Rosalie, I’d rather be Sterling’s side piece than your wife too!”
The torn-up portrait and my reckless mouth pushed him over the edge. Without hesitation, his hands closed around my throat.
His grip tightened. I could barely breathe. Words failed me, but my gaze remained defiant, Do it! Kill me! You coward!
Blood from my cheek dripped onto his dripped knuckles. Suddenly, his eyes went wide. He let go.
Even killing me… was I too filthy for that?
Coughing my lungs out, nothing but disappointment filled my eyes.
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