Chapter 1

To save the villain Vincent Graves from being hacked to death, I used up the three Immunity Tokens the System had given me.

And in doing so, I completely cut off my way back to the modern world.

Vincent married me to repay the debt.

But in the third year of our marriage, he brought home a woman who claimed to be a "companion silicone AI."

I knew she was the little secretary he kept on the side.

But I didn't call it out.

Since she was an AI, I made her kneel on the floor and scrub it with a rag, and I made her reach out and carry a scalding boiling clay pot.

When the woman's hands were covered in blisters from the burns, crying with pain but not daring to make a sound—

Vincent finally couldn't keep up the act.

He kicked the table over and clamped his hand around my throat.

"Adeline Harding! Are you some kind of psychopath?! You can't even stand having a robot around?!"

Looking at the heartache he couldn't hide and the bone-deep disgust for me in his eyes—

I suddenly felt that every blade I'd taken for him and all the blood I'd shed for him over the years had become one enormous joke.

I didn't struggle. I just looked at the "AI" hiding behind him, giving me a taunting smile.

"Vincent, are a robot's tears artificially synthesized too?"

He went rigid, and the hand at my throat instinctively loosened.

I straightened my collar, didn't spare him another glance, and in my mind pressed that bright red button.

"System, initiate the Soul Severance Protocol."

The protocol has taken effect. Your body will turn to ashes within 48 hours, and the male lead of this book's world will lose the protection of your fortune and fall into hell.

......

I looked out the window at the gray, rainy day.

The cold wind of the rainy day poured in through the gaps in the window and blew against my face.

Current countdown: 47 hours and 59 minutes.

The System's cold, mechanical voice sounded in my mind right on schedule.

I raised my left hand and looked at my ring finger.

The skin at the edges of the nail had turned a dry, ashen gray, with the texture of dried, cracked mud.

A gust of wind blew, and a grain of fine sand flaked off the pad of my finger and drifted into the air.

This was the price of severing the soul.

Vincent stood in the living room, his hands trembling faintly.

Lavinia was curled in his arms, her palms covered in red, swollen blisters.

Clear tears slid from the corners of her eyes, running down her delicate jawline and dripping onto the floor.

"Vincent, it really doesn't hurt. My program doesn't have pain sensation set."

Lavinia's voice carried a deliberate mechanical quality, but her body shrank even deeper into Vincent's arms.

Vincent's face was ashen; he didn't even dare to meet my calm eyes.

He avoided my gaze and roughly scooped Lavinia up into his arms.

"Get the best burn ointment. There had better not be a single scar!"

Vincent shot me a cold glance and gave the order to the bodyguard behind him.

The bodyguard bowed his head in acknowledgment and quickly turned to leave.

I watched Vincent's back as he carried Lavinia away, cradling her so carefully, and said nothing.

Three years ago, on a rainy night, he had collapsed in a dark alley, covered in blood.

His enemy's machete had swung down at his neck, and it was I who threw my body between them to shield him.

Back then, his eyes had gone red, and he had clutched me tight with his blood-smeared hands.

"Adeline, in this life I will never let you suffer the slightest grievance."

The warmth of his body when he said those words still seemed to linger on my skin.

Now that promise had become a slap, striking me hard across the face.

I turned and walked to the sink, my face blank.

The diamond ring on my left ring finger threw off a cold light under the lamp.

He had bought it for me with the first clean money he ever earned; he once said it was his entire fortune.

I braced my right hand against the diamond ring and yanked it outward.

It left a red mark cut across my knuckle.

Ding.

The ring dropped into the marble sink with a crisp metallic clink.

The running water washed over it, and it slid down into the dark mouth of the drainpipe.

I didn't reach in for it. I just turned on the tap and rinsed the sand flaking off my fingertip.

The sand at my fingertip seemed to have spread another inch; the gray had already covered half the nail.

I calmly felt my life draining away, then turned and walked into the closet.

I opened the wardrobe and started clearing out everything that was mine.

There wasn't really much to pack, just a few simple changes of clothes.

Ding-dong.

The phone lying to one side gave a soft chime.

The screen lit up. It was a text from Vincent.

"Adeline Harding, stop making a scene. Lavinia is just a test AI with no feelings. If you dare go after her again, I'll cut off the funding for that orphanage you sponsor!"

Looking at the real-world leverage he was so proud of on the screen, I only felt how pathetic it was.

Before, the moment he brought up the orphanage, I would cave, bowing my head to him in tears.

Because it was the only thing I cared about in this world.

But now, in the face of the countdown, those attachments had lost all meaning.

He was so sure I was still the indestructible body that could forgive him an infinite number of times.

He had no idea my life had officially entered its countdown.

I didn't reply to the text. Instead, I swiped my finger across the screen to the block button.

The instant I pressed block, there wasn't even a ripple in my heart.

I turned and picked up the photo of the two of us that sat on the desk.

I pried the frame apart and tore the picture inside with both hands.

Riiip.

The photo split down the middle, and Vincent's handsome face was torn in two.

I threw the scraps into the trash can and zipped my suitcase shut.

Suddenly, from the entryway came the rapid sound of a fingerprint unlock.

With a beep the lock sprang open, and Vincent strode in, cold radiating off him.

His eyes locked hard onto the suitcase I was packing.