I stayed because of a single sentence from Seraphina after my mission was complete. But three years into our marriage, her heart changed. The system told me I was here *for* Seraphina. The moment she no longer needed me, I would be forced to leave this world. Later, The system asked me how I wanted to die. I said, “On the overpass where we first met.” What I never expected was that the person who hit me would be her, too. The accident report, Perhaps my last “gift” to her. The day I found out Seraphina’s heart had changed was on the night of our third wedding anniversary. I’d specially cooked her favorite Honey-Glazed Salmon with Roasted Asparagus. It was then I learned that a table full of warm home-cooked dishes could turn stone cold in just three hours. I waited from eight o’clock until eleven that night. All I got was a dismissive SnapChat reply from Seraphina. “Something came up at the office. Won’t be home tonight.” I only replied: “What kind of thing?” She sent a voice message back. “You wouldn’t understand office stuff, so can you please stop acting like some clingy, jealous husband, always prying and asking questions?” Her tone was irritable, full of impatience. And a hint of entitlement. She sounded like she had a point. I’d promised to take care of the home after we married, and it probably made me seem out of touch with today’s society. All I saw around me were the mundane trivialities of daily life. Everyone envied me for being a kept man at such a young age. My wife was beautiful, and she was willing to support us. But they forgot that in the company’s early days, I was the one who helped Seraphina build it up, step by step. I was the one who drank so much I got a stomach hemorrhage, and I was the one who ended up in the hospital. It should have been a real power couple setup, a win-win for both of us. But because of one sentence from Seraphina, I willingly stepped back to be the man behind her success. “My Ash, will you take care of me from now on? I don’t want a cold, empty house. You cook so well, will you cook for me for the rest of my life, please?” Back then, our love was passionate. She clung to me, whispering sweet nothings. She looked utterly devoted to me. *Home* – what a beautiful word. Because of that sentence, I chose to stay in this world and spend my life with my girl. But she broke her promise. Somewhere along the way, the “home” we talked about became a joke, just for me. She started coming home late, and her attitude towards me worsened daily. Sometimes, she even brought back the smell of another man’s cigarette smoke. A woman’s love, or lack thereof, is brutally obvious. She no longer snuggled into my arms, sweetly calling me “My Ash.” She grew cold, speaking sharply, using my full name as if I were a servant, telling me to do this and that. I wasn’t an idiot. I could clearly see her coldness. But I refused to believe the woman who’d once promised to build a home with me would change her heart. Then, the long-absent system voice in my head shattered my last illusion.
[Target subject Seraphina Thorne has changed her heart. Host’s existence has become an emotional burden. You will soon be forced to leave this world.] “Not annihilation?” I blinked, surprised by the system’s mercy. After all, in my memory, it had always been utterly ruthless. [Host has one hour to choose your method of death. Do not waste time.] Hearing that cold, mechanical voice in my head, I surprisingly felt a flicker of warmth after so long. No expectations, no pain. I stood up, looking at the untouched meal, and in a fit of bitter defiance, dumped it all into the trash. Then I opened my phone and started scrolling through Ins. When I saw that intimate photo, a sharp, familiar pain still bloomed deep inside me. Seraphina’s strange behavior tonight now had the most logical explanation. Blake Sterling was back in the country. The playboy who once considered Seraphina a mere bet had returned. And Seraphina’s absence tonight was simply to welcome Blake Sterling back. They were celebrating in a private room. And Seraphina was looking at Blake Sterling, who stood in the center of the crowd, her eyes sparkling like stars. My fingers trembled as they grazed over those radiant eyes in the photo; I almost dropped my phone. My vision blurred, but my heart swelled with a frustrating helplessness. Had she forgotten Blake Sterling’s past cruelty? I had thought my arrival could change Seraphina’s fate, but now it seemed I was just deluding myself. The system had told me Seraphina was supposed to be the main character of a dark romance novel, a real tear-jerker. But because readers deeply resented the male lead, Blake Sterling, A gentle man was needed to save her. Someone who wouldn’t be with an arrogant, disrespectful man. And so, I appeared in Seraphina’s world. Just like her, I entered the elite private school as a scholarship student. When Seraphina was targeted by other girls, I would purposefully raise my voice and warn them that the dean was coming, making the bullies back off. When Seraphina was used as a bet by those rich kids, I risked Blake Sterling’s retaliation to personally hand her the recording. That was the first time I saw Seraphina cry. She cried and asked me *why*. At the time, I thought Seraphina was asking me why I was so good to her. But looking at that photo on Ins, that “why” sounded more like an accusation towards me. An accusation for shattering her few precious dreams. Blake Sterling’s pursuit had given the overlooked Seraphina some of the only attention she’d ever received. But I had ruined it for her. The realization hit me, and I laughed and cried at the same time, finally understanding that her gradual coldness over the years was nothing more than her revenge against me.
From a timid girl to the capable CEO she was today, I had watched her grow, step by step. The first warm pumpkin spice latte of autumn, the first roasted chestnut of winter – these few small moments of warmth left me like a drowning man grasping at straws, desperately searching for traces of Seraphina’s love in the tiniest things. [System, Seraphina loved me once, she just doesn’t anymore, right?] I humbly sought an answer from the system. [Host, you have forty minutes left.] The system’s evasiveness made me feel like a stray, utterly lost and pathetic. It was ridiculous. I wiped the tears from my face and called Seraphina. She rejected the call. But I was persistent, calling more than twenty times. Finally, she decided to acknowledge me. “Asher Hayes, are you *annoying*? Didn’t I say I was busy?” Through her impatient voice, I heard the raucous celebration of a bar, followed by an unfamiliar yet familiar male voice. “Sera, who is it? Is it your spouse checking in on you?” His tone was flirtatious, laced with casual indifference. Like it was just an idle question. “No, Asher and I… our relationship is just, you know. Just a temporary arrangement, a practical partnership.” Her voice grew flustered, as if she was worried Blake Sterling would ignore her. “Oh, if the passion’s gone, then just cut ties, right? I seem to recall you and Blake having some unfinished business back in the day.” Someone started to egg them on, shouting, “Get together! Get together!” I don’t know how Seraphina faced those taunts. All I had, Was the cold silence after the call disconnected. My hands and feet were icy. I slid down the wall to the floor, asking the system in my head in a hoarse voice: “As a strategist, was I a complete failure? I couldn’t save Seraphina, and instead, I sacrificed myself.” The system was silent for a long time. It seemed unable to bear my miserable state and finally spoke the only somewhat human-sounding sentence. [Host, this merely indicates a strong attraction between the male and female leads. Furthermore, you have taught the female lead self-reliance and confidence. Even if she ends up with the male lead, she will not fall into the passive situation of the original plot. After your death, I will send you back to your original world.] While comforting me, it still didn’t forget to urge me to die quickly. To have the system care about me before I died, It was a pretty new feeling.
I put on my coat and grabbed my car keys, heading out. The late autumn night carried a biting chill. The streetlights behind me flickered on, their dim yellow glow offering no warmth. I stood on the path, originally intending to go to the beach, but suddenly changed my mind. Within moments, I arrived at the place where Seraphina and I first met. The overpass was bustling with traffic, like this busy society, full of diverse people and situations that always made one feel out of place. When I first arrived, I hadn’t even fully registered my transmigration when I was thrown into a panic by the girl crying her eyes out in front of me. In real life, I wasn’t good with words. Seeing the girl’s pathetic state, I couldn’t help but offer her a tissue. She snatched it awkwardly, her back to me, curled into a ball, not speaking. After the system’s introduction, I realized that this tear-stained mess of a girl was the person I needed to save. The legendary protagonist of a dark romance novel, a real tear-jerker. Her mother died when she was three, and her father was sentenced to ten years in prison for theft when she was seven. She worked hard to get into an elite private school but unexpectedly met Blake Sterling due to a bet. After a series of events like campus bullying, being mistaken for the other woman, pregnancy and miscarriage, divorce, and remarriage, she would live happily ever after with the male lead. Hearing this, my face was a mask of utter disbelief, completely speechless. My mission was to make the female lead self-loving and independent, no longer living for a heartless man. In this world, my family background was the same as in my real world. No parents, no one to rely on. Looking at the silently sobbing girl, and remembering how she would later debase herself for a man, I couldn’t resist poking her shoulder. “Hey, don’t do anything foolish. There’s always hope in life.” It was cheesy advice, but I’d always comforted myself with it when facing a failed grad school application, a public service job slot being stolen, or being laid off from a company. As long as you’re alive, there’s always a way out. But my words seemed to infuriate the girl. A rare flash of annoyance crossed her face. “What do you know? You have no idea how exhausting my life is!” Perhaps because I was a complete stranger, she poured out all her teenage troubles to me. I knew she didn’t need my comfort. She was just too overwhelmed and needed someone to vent to. I listened silently, offering her a bottle of water when she got thirsty. We talked from dawn till dusk, and the resentment on Seraphina’s face gradually faded, her expression softening. “I’m sorry for wasting so much of your time listening to my rambling.” She stood up, brushed the dust off her skirt, waved to me, and shouted cheerfully, “Kind stranger, until we meet again!” She was vibrant and full of life, not at all the emaciated person described in the later parts of the novel. I suddenly felt that the mission the system had given me truly had meaning.
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