Chapter 3

Dylan's parents died in a car crash five years ago. His family business went bankrupt, and he was suddenly saddled with immense debt overnight.

He wasn't able to take the blow, so he swallowed a handful of sleeping pills, intending to follow his parents in death.

Just then, a system popped out of nowhere and told me that it could give me 100 million dollars and help Dylan regain his former glory from rock bottom. The only catch was that I had to make it a mission to register our marriage within the next five years.

If we failed to get married by the deadline, I would pay with my life.

At the time, I had a very close, intimate relationship with Dylan, and I thought my mission sounded simple enough. I couldn't possibly say no to free money and such an easy trade in my opinion, so I signed the contract with the system without any hesitation.

However, I never thought Dylan would frown when I proposed to him and brought up marriage.

"I have a marriage phobia. Please don't force me into doing this and give me some more time to think."

I panicked.

I worked my ass off during the day and went home to keep up with the household chores to make him feel secure and at ease. I barely talked to people of the opposite gender and even gave him all of my salary while remaining loyal, obedient, and submissive to him, listening to his every word.

However, he still couldn't make up his mind about marriage.

Just then, Lynette barged into our lives and brought up the whole "pre-marriage test" with him, saying that I would be able to marry him only if I passed all of them.

Ever since she suggested that, Dylan began to loosen up about the idea of marriage.

At first, I was grateful to Lynette for it. However, after experiencing her "tests" where she would just degrade and humiliate me and make sure that I never made it to the town hall for the registration, it finally all dawned on me.

Lynette wasn't helping me. She was simply making things hard for me on purpose.

I told Dylan, "Lynette's a malicious person. She's deliberately trying to sabotage our relationship."

However, Dylan would have none of that.

"She might have been wrong, but she's only doing this for our sake. You should be grateful and thank her instead of badmouthing her to me."

I looked into his cold eyes and realized that Dylan had had a change of heart.

But I didn't have the time to get mad at him. I felt the threat of death knocking at my door, and it was making it hard for me to breathe.

I dropped to my knees before him and begged in a pitiful voice, "Dylan, I signed a deal with a system to help you regain your glory. I will die if I don't successfully register our marriage within five years.

"I don't care what you do with Lynette after the marriage. I'm just begging for you to give me a way out of this and let me live!"

Dylan was beyond touched when he heard what I said. His tone softened.

"You're mistaken. Lynette and I are only regular colleagues. Also, everything I'm doing is for the company and for our home. I will never marry anyone other than you.

"You don't have to worry about anything, Felicia. I will definitely still make it even if they threaten me with a knife!"

I felt relieved after getting his verbal promise. I even purposely requested a day off work and arrived at the town hall bright and early.

But after waiting eagerly all day, from dawn to dusk, the only response I got was news that he had registered his marriage with Lynette instead.

I watched the countdown clock ticking away before my eyes and felt like my entire life had been nothing but a sick joke.

The love that I'd sought after so hard and so bitterly was just as much of a joke as it was for my life.

I composed myself and stopped myself from overthinking. Instead, I pulled out my phone and made a call.

As I lay dying, the only person I wanted to properly say goodbye to was my younger brother, Felix Cooper, who was studying in Alborough, a different city.

I was still hesitating, struggling to string my words together to tactfully tell him that I was dying.

However, when the call finally connected, I heard another man's angry voice on the line instead.

"You're Felix's sister? Really? And I thought all the rest of his family were already dead!"