Ficorpio
Chapter 1
I was the devoted second male lead in a romance novel.
The System had ordered me to win the heroine’s heart. If I failed, it would erase me.
But as I watched the heroine stare at the Destined Male Lead with love in her eyes, I still broke off our engagement.
I loved her, so I was willing to give her freedom.
What I never expected was that after I died, the heroine would tell me, “I love you.”
I was the second male lead in a romance novel.
At the wedding, the officiant asked, “Julian Bennett, do you take Charlotte Sterling to be your wife?”
Her eyes were red as she looked at me.
I took the microphone from the officiant and answered,
“I do not.”
The moment my words fell, my father stormed onto the stage and slapped me across the face.
The blow staggered me. The corner of my mouth split open.
Charlotte stared at everything happening before her and called softly, “Julian…”
I knew what she was thinking, but she didn’t dare say it aloud.
So I would say it for her.
I would be the rebel.
I looked toward the audience. Hidden among the crowd was a man I could recognize at a glance despite how carefully he tried to remain unseen: Adrian Cross.
He was the Destined Male Lead of this novel. He was also the man my beloved, Charlotte Sterling, the heroine of this story, was fated to love.
When Charlotte slowly walked toward me but kept her eyes fixed on him, when she hesitated in answer to the officiant’s question, I knew I had lost.
A self-mocking smile curved my lips.
It was as if I had never won in the first place.
“Julian Bennett, host of the Romance Quest System, your mission has failed. In ten days… you will be completely erased by the System.”
Charlotte Sterling and I grew up together.
I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the way, I fell in love with her.
She depended on me more than she depended on anyone in her family. I did everything I could to protect her, making sure she never suffered the slightest harm.
As we got older, the adults in both our families simply assumed we would end up together.
Then, in high school, Charlotte suddenly came to me and told me she had fallen for a boy.
I was confused. I had no idea how to respond.
She begged me to help her win him over.
Only later did I learn that the boy she liked was my roommate, Adrian Cross.
Adrian came from a troubled family. I had seen his father chase him onto school grounds and beat him with my own eyes. I had also personally witnessed his mother fooling around with another man.
How could I possibly trust someone from a family like that with Charlotte?
And Adrian himself did nothing to reassure me. Fighting, drinking, and stealing were all part of his daily life.
Chapter 2
Charlotte didn’t see it that way.
She sympathized with Adrian. She pitied him. She wanted to save him.
She said she was the only ray of light in Adrian’s life, and that she would be the one to guide him out of the darkness.
What about me?
Was my light supposed to go out just like that?
That was the first time Charlotte and I ever fought.
She called me selfish. She said I was jealous of Adrian.
I admitted that I was jealous. Adrian was inferior to me in every way, yet he had taken Charlotte’s attention so easily.
Before him, her eyes had belonged only to me.
It was then that the System finally told me Adrian was the Destined Male Lead.
The Heroine was fated to be drawn to him. As for me, I was nothing more than a supporting character, someone who would soon disappear from her life.
The System told me that if I left Charlotte soon enough, perhaps I wouldn’t be subjected to System-Ordered Erasure.
By then, her relationship with Adrian had already settled into something stable.
I thought it was time for me to leave. She no longer needed me.
But that was exactly when her father was involved in a car accident, and Charlotte had to fight her half-brother for control of the family fortune.
The man she loved most, Adrian, had also taken money from the Sterling family and gone overseas.
Once again, Charlotte was completely alone.
How could she possibly stand against all those people circling her like predators?
I couldn’t leave her. I wouldn’t be able to go in peace unless I saw her happy.
Now, she finally had the strength to protect herself, and Adrian had returned after finishing his studies.
I watched Charlotte gather up the heavy train of her wedding dress and run past me, determinedly throwing herself toward Adrian.
As she passed, she tossed a single, weightless word over her shoulder.
“I’m sorry.”
Adrian had come back the day before. He had sent Charlotte only one text message.
It was simple.
I’m back.
That was when I learned she had kept his number for four years.
Four years couldn’t outweigh three words:
I’m back.
“Kneel.”
I didn’t argue with my father. I dropped to my knees in the study.
He took the cane from the shelf and approached at an unhurried pace.
I removed the azalea blossom from my chest and placed it on the desk. Then I took off my shirt.
“You useless son of a bitch. You can’t even handle one woman.”
The cane had been soaked in salt water. It hurt far more than usual.
My father brought it down hard across my back, cursing as he struck me. “You’ve turned the entire Jade River City into a laughingstock because of the Bennetts. What’s the point of keeping you alive? Why didn’t you just die with your mother back then?”
Chapter 3
The beating knocked me to the floor.
My father threw the cane aside. “You know what you’re supposed to do. Go.”
I put my shirt back on, picked up the azalea, and walked out.
My assistant was waiting outside. “Mr. Bennett, I’ve taken care of everything. Are you all right?”
I was about to answer when my phone rang.
I didn’t need to look at the screen. I knew it was Charlotte Sterling. She had her own ringtone.
“What is it?”
She asked cautiously, “Did Mr. Bennett hit you?”
So she still remembered.
Whenever I disappointed my father, I was rewarded with a beating.
And yet she had still chosen to leave with Adrian Cross without hesitation.
“Did he hit you again?”
Her question suddenly irritated me. “Does it matter?”
“I’m sorry.”
Again, that same apology. Ever since Adrian had appeared, I was sick of hearing those three words.
I said nothing. I simply ended the call.
I dealt with the rumors, then went to the Sterling family to break off the engagement. Everything went smoothly.
I saw Charlotte again the following evening.
I had just finished a meeting and stepped out of the conference room when I collapsed. My assistant rushed me to the hospital.
Stomach cancer.
That was the diagnosis.
The doctor urged me to undergo conservative treatment, but I could read the truth in his eyes.
I didn’t have much time left.
The moment I stepped out of the hospital room, Charlotte came rushing toward me.
“Julian Bennett, do you get some kind of satisfaction out of this? If you have a problem, take it up with me. Leave Adrian alone.”
I clutched my stomach, the pain nearly too much for me to bear.
Charlotte didn’t seem to notice anything wrong with me. She glared at me furiously. “I thought you’d genuinely been generous enough to break off the engagement. I didn’t realize you were planning to make things difficult for Adrian through business.”
“Make things difficult for Adrian? Why would I do that?”
I couldn’t understand what she meant. I hadn’t even seen Adrian in person. How could I possibly have made things difficult for him?
Besides, I was above using a tactic like that.
If I’d wanted to interfere with their relationship, Adrian would never have had the chance to return to the country in the first place.
Charlotte, however, was convinced I was responsible.
She pointed toward the hospital room beside us. “Victor Hayes from your company made Adrian drink until he suffered gastric bleeding and had to be hospitalized. And you’re still saying you didn’t know about it?”
I took two unsteady steps back and leaned against the wall, barely managing to stay upright. Sweat prickled across my forehead.
“Julian Bennett, you’ve changed.” Her voice shook with anger. “I never thought you’d become this hypocritical—so different in public from who you really are. If you admitted what you did today, I wouldn’t look down on you this much.”
I almost laughed.