Ficorpio
Chapter 1
I pulled out my no-limit black card, ready to cover Ethan Carter’s tuition.
Then the shy, inexperienced boy before me abruptly turned cold and aloof, carrying himself with an air of effortless privilege.
Lines of supernatural commentary raced across my vision.
[The designated male lead has regressed to the past. He’s back where it all began.]
[This time, he’ll finally end up with his childhood sweetheart and make up for the regrets of the previous timeline.]
[If the designated villainess hadn’t used her filthy money to force herself between the leads, they never would have spent an entire lifetime apart!]
I looked up and met Ethan’s suddenly icy gaze.
Only when he turned to his childhood sweetheart did his eyes redden without warning.
Well, then.
The designated male lead had returned to the past.
Back to the age of eighteen, when he didn’t have a penny to his name.
I was standing close enough to sense the change in him clearly. He now possessed the polished confidence of someone accustomed to years of wealth and privilege.
It was an air no impoverished college student should have had.
Ethan glanced at the black card in my hand with open disgust. His voice was cool and detached.
“I already told you. I’ll find a way to pay my own tuition. I don’t need you using your money to humiliate me and trample on my dignity.”
With that, he walked straight past me and pulled Sophie Bennett, who had been glaring at me with undisguised hostility, into his arms.
He held her so tightly, as though embracing a priceless treasure he had once lost.
“Sophie, after everything I’ve been through, I finally understand. You’re the one I’ll love for the rest of my life.”
Murmurs and knowing exclamations rose from the crowd around us.
The commentary flooding my vision grew even more frantic.
[Oh my God! The male lead has guts. He confessed to his childhood sweetheart the moment he returned!]
[Exactly! No hesitation, no pointless drama!]
[The designated villainess must be stunned. In the previous timeline, he reluctantly accepted her black card because he needed the tuition money, then agreed to date her. But now that he’s back, no amount of money can buy him!]
I rubbed my eyes and stared at the lines of commentary scrolling through the air.
Piece by piece, I assembled the truth buried within them.
I was the woman they called the designated villainess.
The spoiled heiress who used money to force the male lead into a relationship with her.
And Ethan Carter, standing before me, had returned from the previous timeline.
Chapter 2
Back then, I’d fallen for him at first sight as soon as we started college. When I learned he couldn’t afford tuition, I’d taken out my no-limit black card and offered to cover every expense for all four years of his degree.
In exchange, I’d asked him to date me.
Ethan had agonized over the decision for a long time. In the end, he’d clutched the black card and agreed, humiliated, while burying his years-long love for his childhood sweetheart deep inside his heart.
He’d decided I was the one who had torn him and Sophie Bennett apart. He’d also despised my spoiled-heiress temper.
Insecure and painfully sensitive, he’d convinced himself that our relationship made him inferior, that being with me had stripped him of every last shred of dignity.
Yet he’d grown accustomed to a wealthy lifestyle and hadn’t wanted to lose his personal cash cow.
Then, two years after graduation, news arrived that Sophie was getting married. The feelings Ethan had suppressed for years came roaring back.
Frantic, he’d raced to his childhood sweetheart’s wedding, determined to stop the ceremony in one final act of madness.
But he’d lost focus on the way there and crashed into a truck.
He died at the scene.
After returning to the past, the first thing he’d done was confess the love he’d never voiced in the previous timeline, determined to erase his greatest regret.
I frowned.
What the commentary described certainly sounded like me. I had always been proud and demanding.
But according to those same comments, Ethan had taken a fortune from me. After graduation, I’d even used my connections to help him launch his company.
So what if he had to swallow his pride around me?
So what if he had to do as I said?
Wasn’t that the bare minimum?
Or had he expected to live off my money while acting like he owned me, then help himself to the Ashford family fortune as well?
I gave a cold laugh and tossed the black card to a male student passing by.
“Ethan Carter, who said I was offering to pay your tuition?”
I pointed at the startled stranger.
“He’s the one I wanted to give it to.”
Then I smiled at him. “Hey, handsome. Want to be my boyfriend?”
[Wait, what happened? Did I miss something? Why did she give the black card to someone else?]
[You there, handsome, don’t get too excited. That card won’t do you any good. The designated villainess only has eyes for the male lead. She’ll never seriously consider another man.]
[She’s obviously trying to make him jealous. Too bad Ethan won’t fall for it.]
Ethan Carter went rigid.
Chapter 3
Having only just returned to the past, disbelief and confusion flickered in his eyes. He clearly hadn’t realized that events in this timeline had already begun to diverge from the one he remembered.
But the love of his life was standing right in front of him, and his mind was still reeling from the terror of death and the exhilaration of being given a second chance.
He didn’t think too deeply about it.
Meanwhile, I enthusiastically invited the handsome stranger to join me for dinner.
The semester had only just started, so most of the faces around campus were still unfamiliar to me.
As for Ethan, I’d overheard a few students whispering that he still hadn’t managed to cover his tuition. That was why I’d kindly taken out my no-limit black card and asked whether he wanted to date me.
After all, his sharp, sculpted features were exactly my type. One look at that face, and I’d let my hormones overrule my common sense.
Maybe I really had loved Ethan in the previous timeline.
But this time, that love had been strangled before it could even take root.
I had more money than I could ever spend.
I was the only daughter of the wealthiest family in Harbor City, a spoiled heiress who had never been forced to endure the slightest grievance.
Why would I ruin myself over one disappointing man?
Dating was dating. Did it really matter who I did it with?
Besides, the handsome guy now holding my black card was exactly my type too.
I chose the most expensive restaurant near Westbridge University. After flipping through the menu with a frown, I handed it back to the server.
“Bring us one of every signature dish.”
The server’s face lit up, and he hurried away.
A moment later, the restaurant doors swung open, drawing every eye in the room.
I turned to look.
It was the newly regressed designated male lead.
And he had one arm wrapped around his beloved childhood sweetheart.
In the previous timeline, Ethan Carter had clearly been well nourished by money.
Whether he was eating or simply sitting there, every movement was polished. Not a single flaw could be found in his manners or posture. He looked every inch the wealthy heir.
Every so often, he glanced in my direction. The contempt and irritation in his eyes were impossible for him to hide.
He seemed convinced that I had come here just to find an excuse to strike up a conversation with him.
As though I couldn’t bear to leave him alone.
He was even more certain that I was having dinner with another man to make him jealous.
Ethan sat up straight, casually ordering seven or eight of the restaurant’s signature dishes from the menu. Then he put on an affectionate expression.
“Sophie, the food here is nothing special. You’ll have to make do for tonight.”