CH 3.1

3. Now that we’re done, let’s change the female lead (1)

His hand was out of her sight when she closed her eyes without resistance.

So-hee grabbed at her neck to free herself and choked on air.

When the pain subsided a little, she raised her head and demanded, “What? Why didn’t you kill me?”

“What?”

“You wanted to kill me? Then, go ahead and do it! Kill me now!”

This vivid dream lasted too long, and she wanted to wake up quickly.

So-hee had a lot of good ideas and things to write.

“Do you want me to kill you?” His handsome face contorted in utter disbelief.

She could tell that the Male Lead, who had lived his entire life according to plan, got flustered at the unexpected response.

“Ariad must die here. That’s right.”So-hee nodded, regarding herself in the third person.

The statement made her look insane.

Joshua’s handsome face darkened in response.

“Ha! You’re so selfish until the end.”

“Yes. I’m indeed selfish.”

“I already knew how cheap you are, but you are just horrible until the end. Ariad Pearson, I can’t believe I lost all my heart to you.”

“All right, then. Just kill me now!”

Joshua laughed as he watched her talk about her own death as if it didn’t matter.

Her enemy’s eyes twinkled in wicked delight before his countenance morphed into a gentle mask.

“No, Ariad.” Joshua smiled. “You can’t die here.”

“Why?” So-hee frowned. “If I don’t die here, my dream would never end. I’m tied up, so I can’t jump to a window and kill myself.”

“Ariad, you’re going to live a very long life.”

So-hee tried to suppress her ire as she listened to his beautiful voice.

“No, I didn’t plan the story like that.”  She said calmly. “Ariad must die soon—”

“No.” Joshua cut her off.

Why did these guys keep on cutting people off?

“I will let you live a long life full of struggle and pain.  I will make every man you got involved with a crawl on the floor. I swore to myself under the name of the McKinley Royal Family.”

“Wow! That’s a huge problem. I should start creating a new story, then.” She murmured spitefully.

Joshua was still smiling at her despite his fierce aura permeating in the atmosphere.

“The first man I’m going to destroy will be Deon. You can look forward to it.”

When Joshua turned his back, So-hee attempted to grab his thick wrist but he struck her delicate hand instead.

The force was so violent that her forearm had gone numb.

Nevertheless, she shouted at the back of his head as he continued to leave.

“Yes! I like your plan very much! If you could just unchain me—”

“What?”

Fortunately, Joshua turned to face her again.

“I think it’s a good idea.  You can seek revenge on all the men who had sex with Ariad and make them suffer. That would be the story of a story-of-a lifetime. Just remove these manacles before you go, please?” Showing him a puppy-eyed look, So-hee raised her shackled hands in front of him. “Please cut this off with the knife you brought with you.”

Bewildered, Joshua glanced down at her. “Why me?”

Ariad’s pretty eyes were now filled with tears.

She blinked coquettishly to enchant him further.

Joshua was speechless as he watched the fine dew drop.

“Please.” She pleaded, her voice was pure and thin.

It was Sohee’s desperate act to squeeze the tears out of her eyes.

Fortunately, the poor performance had sparked a small flame on Joshua’s heart which she had initially caught in the first meeting.

When Joshua finally unsheathed his knife, So-hee suppressed a short giggle rising from her throat and calmed down.

She was glad that it went as planned.

Joshua suddenly slashed the knife diagonally in the blink of an eye.

It was funny how she thought the man’s hatred would drive him to cut her wrists instead of the chains.

The manacles tied to her hands fell off quickly.

“It’s been five minutes.”

As if on cue, Deon opened the door and came in.

So-hee jerked from the bed to pretend she was still chained.

Joshua’s eyes widened at the sudden movement.

Deon scowled at the broken chain the instant he entered the room.

As if she had been shot, So-hee stood on the bed while Deon rushed to catch her.

So-hee was faster than him and for that reason alone, she found the chase amusing rather than scary.

She quickly ran away from Deon to stand in front of the window.

So-hee faced the two of them and smiled, “Wow, this dream got pretty ugly. Rather than being strangled, I think it’s more comfortable to fall and die at once.”

“Ari!” Deon bellowed.

The loud sound echoed outside the window and shook the chiffon curtains.

Astonished, Joshua reached out a hand to save her, but he couldn’t even open his mouth to say, ‘Come back!’.

His blood-red pupils trembled from the shock of Ariad’s actions that didn’t make sense at all.

“Goodbye!” So-hee greeted them with a smile before she disappeared.

* * *