“Annabell, take this engagement termination letter to that waste immediately and have him sign it. That useless Charlotte, who has lost all his magic, is now nothing more than a failure who can’t even cast a low-level Fireball. He no longer deserves to be the fiancé of you, the top duke’s daughter of the empire.”
Bang!
The harsh, icy female voice echoed through the spacious dean’s office.
Sylvia, the dean of Sky Magic Academy and a Grand Archmage, pushed the engagement termination letter to the edge of her desk.
Standing before the desk was a stunningly beautiful girl with silver hair and red-blue dual-pupil eyes.
On the surface, the empire’s top magical genius and Academy Chief seemed to be lost in a cold silence.
But inside this body, the soul of a twenty-first-century male college student had just awakened, and he was frantically screaming in his mind, clutching his head.
‘Holy crap?! What is this? I transmigrated?!’
‘Wait, why does this golden-haired big-wave MILF look so familiar? And this engagement termination letter? Annabell? Isn’t she that ultimate villainess from that Western fantasy visual novel I just stayed up all night to finish a few days ago?!’
Annabell snapped her head up, her “Truth Magic Eye” trembling violently.
A flood of memories poured into her brain like a broken dam.
The jewel of the empire’s top duke family, born with the dual pupil that made her invincible in the world. Sounds like a royal flush at the start, right?
Bullshit!!!
Annabell, who had read over three hundred volumes of web novels, felt a chill crawl up her spine.
Because in her mind, a blood-red line of text appeared: Death Flag!
‘Let me sort this out… My biological mother, the Iron Blood Duchess, has recently been coveting my genius cousin’s [Innate Supreme Bone]. She’s planning to drugged my cousin in a few days, dig out the bone, and transplant it into me…’
Annabell gasped and silently complained: ‘Mom, are you afraid your daughter won’t die fast enough?! The Dual Pupil is the path of invincibility; why borrow someone else’s bone?!
Digging out someone’s Supreme Bone is the standard script for the rise of a Heavenly Emperor! According to one of the original story’s endings, my cousin will someday come back shouting, “I will kill until no one dares to claim supremacy in this world,” and grind my bones to dust!’
And that’s not all!
‘According to the late-game plot, I’ll join that damn evil church because of my greed for power. To get a soul crystal, I’ll casually kill a commoner girl’s magical beast mother in some big forest.’
‘That girl is the future Plant High Priestess! Provoking a filial daughter protagonist like that means I’ll end up with her red-eyed, throwing a Plant Bind ultimate at me and roaring: “Annabell, you deserve to die!!!”’
Her stomach was cramping violently.
But the most fatal of all was the engagement termination letter right in front of her.
“What are you spacing out for?”
Dean Sylvia tapped the desk irritably.
“Charlotte was once a genius young master, but now he’s worse than a commoner. As the Academy Chief, you represent the face of Sky Academy. You absolutely cannot be tied to a waste. Go to his house immediately and tear up the engagement publicly!”
Hearing the name “Charlotte,” Annabell’s eye twitched wildly.
‘Here we go! The eternal root of all evil in the web novel world—the classic engagement termination arc!’
‘Charlotte… As a player who beat the game, I know this! That guy isn’t a young master at all! She’s a stunningly beautiful girl pretending to be a man to keep her family’s inheritance!’
Break the engagement?
‘And she’s one of the destined protagonists in this game! She’s just in the magic seal phase of her beginner’s protection period right now.’
‘Going to her house to break the engagement now… Isn’t that asking to get slapped in the face? I can already imagine Charlotte biting her finger to write a divorce letter and shouting at me: “Leave a mountain and a river in thirty years. Don’t bully a girl when she’s down!”’
Three terrifying villain Flags stacked!
Digging out bones, killing a mother for a crystal, public engagement termination! These death flags are thicker than a thousand-layer pancake!
“Dean.”
Annabell took a deep breath, trying to make her voice sound cool and calm. She extended a slender finger, pressed it against the engagement termination letter, and slowly… pushed it back.
“I believe marriage is a sacred contract. Young Master Charlotte is experiencing setbacks temporarily, but I cannot kick him while he’s down. Let’s forget about the engagement termination.”
‘As long as I don’t break the engagement, I won’t trigger this flag, and she’ll be my loyal and devoted perfect wife!’
However, Sylvia’s gaze instantly turned cold.
Slap!
The Grand Archmage slammed her hand on the desk, shoving the letter hard toward Annabell.
“Annabell, are you defying me?”
Sylvia’s voice carried an unquestionable authority, and a terrifying magical pressure descended instantly. “Don’t forget, I recommended you for this Chief position. If you don’t take this letter and tear up the engagement today, you can return your Chief badge to me tomorrow!”
A million horses stampeded through Annabell’s heart.
‘Are you sick, old woman?! What business is it of yours if someone’s in love?! You’re forcing me to play the villainess, aren’t you?!’
Losing the Chief position? Absolutely not. Without the resource perks of being Chief, how would she fight against the overpowered female protagonists later?
Annabell bit her lower lip, putting on a look of humiliation and helplessness, and reached out to pick up the engagement termination letter.
“I… understand, Dean. I will follow your teachings.”
‘I’ll take it, but I’ll just pay lip service. I’ll put on an act with Charlotte!’
Just as she turned around in despair, a mechanical voice devoid of any emotion suddenly rang in her mind.
[Ding! Detected that the host is facing a fateful choice. The Affinity System has been automatically activated!]
[System Description: This system allows the host to check others’ affinity toward the host. Affinity is divided into 10 levels: 5 positive levels (Positive 1 to Positive 5) and 5 negative levels (Negative 1 to Negative 5).]
[When the target has positive affinity toward the host, the host will receive generous treasure chest rewards. When the target has negative affinity, the host can also open a ‘Blind Box’… but the contents are not necessarily good!]
Annabell stopped in her tracks.
‘My cheat system has arrived! I can get rewards just by checking affinity?’
She spun around and instinctively cast her gaze toward Dean Sylvia, who was still sitting behind her desk with a stern face.
‘Let’s test the affinity first.’
[Target: Sylvia Trandice]
[Current Affinity: Positive 4, Soulmate]
[Note: Her feelings for you are as passionate as a volcano, but her reason suppresses them tightly. She didn’t force you to break the engagement only for your future, but also because of the insane love she hides deep in her heart.]
Annabell: …
Her brain crashed instantly.
‘What the heck?! What is this?! Positive 4?! Soulmate?! Ma’am, you were just threatening me with Grand Archmage pressure! And that look like you wanted to devour me alive—was that because you’re jealous of a useless waste?!
“What are you still looking at me for? Get out and prepare for the engagement termination!” Sylvia snapped coldly, feeling uncomfortable under that strange gaze. But if you looked closely, the tips of her pale ears seemed to flush slightly red.
“… Right away, Dean! I’m going!”
Annabell fled in panic. She couldn’t stand another second in this place!
Back in her luxurious single dormitory, Annabell leaned against the door, panting heavily.
“System, claim the reward for Sylvia’s affinity!”
[Ding! Detected that the target’s affinity has reached the threshold. Congratulations, host! You have received a reward!]
[Acquired: Primordial Stone ×1000!]
[Acquired: High-level Magic Tool—Absolute Domain Bracelet!]
[Acquired: Mysterious Grimoire—Infinite Starry Sky! Special Attribute: Auto Meditation AFK Method! As long as the host sleeps, they will automatically absorb magic power, leveling up at an incredible rate!]
Seeing the screen full of rewards, Annabell was so excited she almost cried.
‘An AFK system! With this, why should I fear any destined protagonist? I just sleep and my cultivation rises!’
Just as she was about to lie down and test the AFK method…
Creak—
The heavy dormitory door pushed open a crack.
A small, thin girl in a dusty, worn-out maid uniform stood timidly at the entrance, carrying a basin of water for washing. She had messy short light-brown hair and was trembling all over. The most shocking thing was the magical dog collar tightly fitted around her pale neck.
“G… Great… Miss…” The girl’s voice was as thin as a silk thread, filled with bone-deep fear. “Sla… slave Emily… here to attend to your washing…”
Annabell’s heart rate, which had just calmed down, shot up again.
‘Damn! How did I forget her?!