Cerita Pendek Tragic Love Imagination & Novel Mistress System

Ten days before our wedding, I discovered that Luna Sterling had been keeping another man in secret. She spent her days with me and her nights in the arms of her lover who was a wedding planner. I went to find her and call off the wedding, but by chance, I overheard the truth. Luna had been bound to a system that granted her unlimited reincarnations. "Host, this is already your ninety-ninth reincarnation. Haven't you had enough fun yet?" Luna answered without a care, "This is the last one. Once I complete my hundredth conquest, I'll settle down and live a good life with Julian." Later, the system came to me. "Mr. Prescott, would you like to bind yourself to the Reincarnation System? The only way to reincarnate is through death. The system will activate only after all signs of life have ceased." "Yes," I replied. "But I have one condition." I wanted Luna to lose her endless chances at reincarnation. And from this life onward, through every lifetime to come, she and I would never meet again.

My mother spent three hundred million dollars to build a fake ancient city. She tricked my father into going inside by telling him it was a time‑travel experience. Inside, people sold him to an entertainment house. They broke his legs, and he lived as a slave for three years. Three years later, my mother removed her human‑skin mask. She looked down at him as he knelt on the ground and smiled. “Three years ago, you sued for divorce and had people online smear Sean as 'the other man'. You almost drove him to suicide from depression. How did it feel to live as a slave all these years? Did you learn your lesson?” My father pressed his forehead to the ground. His voice sounded flat. “Everything is up to you, madam.” My mother paused, then smiled with satisfaction. I cried and threw myself into my father’s arms. He held me tightly. His tears fell against my neck as he whispered, “I’m sorry, Jayden. Dad has to go. I’ll make sure everything is arranged for you before I leave.”

My boyfriend, my best friend, and I were dragged into some kind of relationship game. The system told us that if we cleared every round, we could go home. The first test was simple. Vote for one person to be punished. Sophie clutched my arm, trembling. I patted her hand. "Vote for yourself. If we all do that, it should end in a tie." The votes came in. One each. A three-way tie. Sophie let out a shaky breath, tears still clinging to her lashes. "Cecilia, thank God you thought of that." Then the system told each of us to pick a reward box. Mine contained a small silver shard. A message rang directly in my head. [Ability unlocked: View and alter the outcome of one vote.] I closed my fingers around the shard, smiling as I turned to tell them I’d gotten something useful. Then white light flashed around me. I arrived a few seconds after they did. And before the light had completely faded, I saw them. Sophie had her back to me, tucked into my boyfriend’s arms. "Why wouldn’t you let me vote for her just now?" Her voice was low. "If we vote for her every round, then the two of us can get out safely, can’t we?" He rested his chin on top of her head and lowered his voice. "We’ll vote for her next round." "It’s just a test. Don’t rush." The last of the light faded, and I appeared beside them. Sophie immediately turned around. As naturally as if nothing had happened, she slipped her arm through mine. "Cecilia, what did you get? Neither of us got anything." Inside my pocket, the silver shard pressed into my palm. I smiled. "Nothing." "Mine was empty too."

In the twenty years I was bound to my host, this was the nine hundred and ninety-ninth time I had watched him argue with Vivian Hale. The meal he had carefully prepared was smashed all over the floor. His eyes were red as he nearly shouted at her. "Why do you choose him every single time? You divorced him, remember? I am your husband!" Vivian remained calm, as if she had known all along that my host would make a scene. "So what if we divorced? I have a child with him. I cannot just ignore him." That one careless sentence left my host sitting frozen in place for a long, long time. Long enough for the sky outside to go completely dark. There had been countless moments like this before, but he had always gritted his teeth and held on. I thought this time would be no different. Until my host suddenly asked me, "What happens if I abandon the mission?"

Ten years after I accidentally crossed into the modern world, the system finally detected the glitch that was me. It was ready to send me back to the era I belonged to, but it gave me three days to say goodbye. On the first day, Corinne Whitford asked me to step aside so her childhood sweetheart could take my place at the altar. I did not cry or make a scene. I just smiled, slipped off my ring and handed it back to her. On the second day, she brought him home. She told me she was giving him a home. I did not argue, just stepped aside and let it happen. On the third day, she wanted to take him on a honeymoon to Wyndmere, the one place I had always dreamed of going. I helped her arrange everything, gentle as ever. When she stepped onto the train bound for Wyndmere, I turned and walked toward the road that would take me home. This ten-year dream had run its course. It was time to wake up.

When I was 15, a thug outside our school swung a club at Trevor Jenson, and I took the hit for him. When I woke up, I had the mind of a five-year-old and could only call him Trevvy. He tore up his college acceptance letter on the spot and pulled me into his arms. "Don't be scared, Tessa. I'll marry you someday and take care of you for the rest of my life." Ten years later, Trevor goes out to eat and secretly arranges for me to eat in the private dining room next door. I'm on my third crab cake when I hear his mother sigh. "You can't spend your whole life taking care of a girl like her." Giselle Winslow says softly, "I don't mind. As long as I'm the one you love." Trevor doesn't answer. But when he gets home, he washes the travel mug Giselle gave him three times and sets it on his nightstand. That night, after being silent for so long, the system suddenly speaks in my ear. "Your last chance to leave this world is in seven days." "If I leave, can Trevvy get married?" I ask. "Yes." I'm so happy I don't sleep a wink. I practice writing my name 20 times because I want to leave him a goodbye note. But at a family dinner the next day, I mistake the scarf Giselle gave him for a rag and use it to wipe up some spilled soup. Trevor slams his bowl down in front of everyone. "Tessa, are you really that stupid, or are you just trying to embarrass me?" I clutch the wet scarf and stare at him blankly. "I won't embarrass you anymore after I leave."

Tonight, my wife was working overtime at the office. I was about to enjoy some alone time playing video games. The Tesla car application on my phone sent an alarm notification: [Abnormal vibrations detected in the car. Please check.] Following the location sent, I arrived at the parking lot below my wife's company. I saw her sweating profusely in the car with her fitness instructor. My mind went blank. Suddenly, a mechanical voice rang out in my mind: [Congratulations! You have been linked to the Cuckold King system. Complete the task, and you will receive $100 million as a reward!]

Yuna Cooper was left mentally impaired after saving my life, so I gave up my chance to return home and remained in the mission world to care for her. But in my third year there, she suddenly ran me down with her car. Then, taking Joshua Cook’s hand, she told me, “I’ve finally waited for this day. Once you’re dead, Joshua and I can take your place as the one chosen by the system and live forever.” Only then did I realize she had been pretending all along, plotting to steal the system from me. What she did not know was that I had been enduring the system’s punishments this entire time. I said to the system, “There are two new hosts willing to take my place. Can I leave now?”

After I was rescued from five years in captivity, my husband, Luke Hauser, told me in an offhand tone, "I'm the one who arranged your kidnapping. When they dragged you into that van, I was standing right there in the alley." I froze. Then my brother, Peter Costner, the richest man in Hendonport, spoke up. "I paid for it. "We only meant to punish you for three years and then bring you home. But Jake was afraid you hadn't learned your lesson and would go on bullying Piper. "He insisted we leave you in that mountain village for another two years." Jake Bingham was an orphan I'd brought home when we were kids. After I was taken, men forced themselves on me night after night. My belly swelled and shrank six times. I wanted to die, but death wouldn't come. I tried to run, but they crippled my legs, and I ended up on cheap prosthetics. I had fought with everything I had just to see these three men again. I never imagined they were the ones behind it all. The blood in my veins ran so cold that I shook. My voice came out hoarse. "Why would you destroy me?" Peter and Jake hesitated, but Luke spoke first. "You took advantage of how much we spoiled you to bully Piper. We just wanted you to learn some sense. "Piper is pregnant with my child. If you can't accept that, you're free to divorce me." The taste of blood rose in my throat, and a System notification I hadn't heard in years chimed in my head. [Host, do you wish to abandon the redemption of the three villains and leave this world?]

In my seven years of being married to my husband, Mark Chapman, he always gives me whatever I ask for and prioritizes me in everything. This goes on until he keeps sending food coupons to a female college student named Hayley Larkson. Not only that, he stands up for her and beats up some thugs on her behalf. One time, he even takes her to the hospital to get treatment. Holding a toy, my daughter asks Mark innocently, "Dad, Ms. Larkson is so gentle and pretty. She's not as strict and mean as Mom, who always makes me do homework. Can you ask her to move in and be my teacher?" Mark smiles and replies, "Sure." I stand frozen in a corner, my lips trembling. Just then, the system's cold voice speaks in my mind. It asks if I want to go home. I close my eyes and reply, "Take me home."

It has been three years since I traveled back in time, but today, I stumbled upon a helicopter hidden right inside the manor’s yard. Looking down at my crippled leg, my husband, Ethan Miller, decided to finally drop the act. “Three years ago, you couldn’t accept the fact that I was marrying Vanessa and that you were just the mistress,” he said. “So, we had no choice but to trick you into believing you had traveled back in time, just to keep you locked up here. After serving as a maidservant and an unofficial mistress here for three years, I’d say you’ve finally learned your lesson.” I stared at him in disbelief. Suddenly, the steward standing beside him ripped off a mask, revealing himself to be my brother, Logan York. “Eva, now that Vanessa has safely given birth to her baby, you can finally go back,” Logan said carelessly. Then, he turned to someone else and added, “Hudson, your plan was absolutely flawless!” I slowly turned my head to look. The manor’s resident physician was standing there, smiling right at me. “You didn’t mistake my identity back then. I am your childhood friend, Hudson Jones,” he admitted. “We only set up this entire illusion because we were afraid you would hurt Vanessa.” For three long years, I believed I had traveled back in time. During this time, I was beaten, sold off, violated by countless strangers, and eventually bought by Ethan to be kept as a broken slave and mistress. By now, I had lost the use of my legs and was completely blind in one eye. I went from crying day and night, begging to go home, to living a numb, submissive existence. However, as it turned out, I had never traveled through time at all. The reality of it all made me break down. Just as I was about to end my life, an eerie line of text suddenly appeared before my eyes. [Congratulations to the tragic AI female protagonist for awakening. Countdown to reincarnating as a real human: Two days.] [Countdown: 48 hours.] [Countdown: 47 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds.]

Seven years into my mission to win Stephanie Chelle's heart, I had helped her become one of the business world's rising stars. And yet, she divorced me for her first love. All because her first love was terminally ill, and she had promised to marry him. I refused to give up and begged her to stay. "Once we're divorced, I won't remember you anymore." But she impatiently shook off my hand. "Can you stop being so selfish? Grayson is dying, and you're still fighting for my attention?" Later, I remembered everyone except Stephanie. Yet she came to me with red-rimmed eyes, begging me to come back.

I had been trying to court Liam Castle for five years. The only thing I needed for the system to declare my mission a success was to obtain the marriage license. I was so close, but Liam had cancelled our marriage registration for the ninth time. "Friday? I can't do Friday. I have to meet Nora's parents." Liam continued to explain disinterestedly, "Her parents have been grilling her to get a boyfriend, so I have to pretend to be her boyfriend so they'll let it rest. Why don't you ask the system for another month's extension? "Just tell the system you'll trade one month of your future lifespan for the extension, as you've always done. "We'll get married after I help deal with Nora's parents." He had always been aware of the system as well as the procedures for extending the deadline. What he did not know was that if I failed the mission, I only had ten months left to live. Now that he had extended it nine times, I was only one more extension from death. I decided I was done waiting for him. With that, I asked the system, "System, I remember you told me that, besides extending the deadline, I can also switch to a different target… "In that case, could I change the target?"

In the tenth year of my marriage to a genius pianist, I came down with a strange illness. A month ago, my husband missed my birthday party to care for his ailing sister-in-law. Night after night, I had waited for him to return home. But that night I forgot to wait at all and went to bed early. Half a month ago, he attended an important performance with his sister-in-law. I had always been petty and prone to jealousy, yet this time I didn't get angry. I simply went home in silence. Three days ago, I fell seriously ill with a burning fever. My husband rushed back from out of town in a panic—but only to tend to his sister-in-law, whose hand had been scalded. When we ran into each other at the hospital, I was strangely calm. I, who used to be fiercely jealous, felt nothing at all. I forgot the promise we had made to grow old together. I even forgot how he once fretted over me for days when I'd scraped a bit of skin. It wasn't until he said he wanted to bring his sister-in-law home and take care of her for the rest of his life that I—my memories riddled with holes—summoned the system at last. "I want to go home."

To stay by the side of award-winning actress Victoria Quinn, I gave up the system's one-billion-dollar cash reward. I also drained every last one of my luck points to make her paralyzed legs heal. The price was that my life became bound to her loyalty. If she ever betrayed me, emotionally or physically, my soul would be ripped from my body and erased completely. At the moment of binding, I hesitated. But when I looked into her eyes and saw the depth of her love, I believed her. I believed her when she said, "Out of all the people in the world, I only want you." So I chose to become the man who stood silently behind her, giving everything without complaint, and I pressed confirm. For seven years, we loved each other as deeply as we had in the beginning. Hand in hand, we weathered every storm together. Until our wedding anniversary. I was in the kitchen making her favorite soup when I suddenly coughed violently and spat out a large pool of black blood. Then I looked down and saw my fingers slowly turning transparent, so faint that I could no longer even touch the glass in front of me. At the same time, a piercing alarm rang through my mind. "Warning. Bound target's love value has fallen below the critical threshold. Erasure protocol activated..."

Ruby Monroe's memory resets every three months, back to the day she hates me the most. She breaks my hand again and again to get revenge for her adopted son, Ricky Smith. She also loses her memories again and again after proposing to me beneath a sky full of fireflies. I live through our story over and over, waiting for the day she finally remembers everything. Until one day, I accidentally overhear her talking to her friends. "Ruby, how long are you going to keep this act up? Only a fool like Ricky would believe you really lost your memory. Every time, he gets down on his knees and begs us to play along with him, dreaming that he'll marry you. "In three days, you're going to fake losing your memory again, right? How many times has it been now?" "Nine times." Ruby's cold voice comes through the door. "His food gave Ricky food poisoning and ruined his coming-of-age ceremony. He should be punished!" She pats Ricky's head. "Nobody bullies Ricky!" My heart breaks when I hear her gentle yet cruel words. I never expect that all my years of waiting are just part of her revenge. I wipe away my tears and summon the system. "Cancel our previous deal. In three days, declare this mission a failure and erase all my memories of Ruby."

After his son, George Black, dies, Jonas Black returns to his own world, thinking of that marriage as nothing more than a nightmare. That is, until the system appears again. "Host, after you drowned, Serena wanted to trade her own life to save yours. If you go back and stay at her side for a whole year, George will come back to life in this world, and you'll be rewarded ten billion dollars." Just like that, Jonas is summoned back to that world for a second time. This time, he's a different person. He suggests to Serena Quinn that they should sleep in separate rooms and stay out of each other's lives. When his daughter, Erica Black, makes a fuss about wanting to see Serena's savior, Henry Lane, Jonas simply has her things packed and sends her over with her suitcase. Even when Serena favors and sides with Henry, Jonas doesn't act up or get angry. He just doesn't care. All he does throughout the year is buy luxury cars or spend his time at clubs and bars, showering the hostesses with money. Everyone in the circle calls him "The Walking ATM". One day, Jonas casually gives his wedding ring, worth tens of millions, to a club hostess. Serena, who has heard the news, barges into the private room soon after. "Jonas Black!" She grabs his wrist. "That's our wedding ring. I designed it myself, and it took three years to perfect it! How could you just give it away? What are you trying to prove?!" Annoyed by her shaking him, Jonas pulls his hand free and leans against the couch lazily. "It's just a ring. Why make a big deal out of it? You can give your ring to someone else, too. It's not like you haven't done it before."

My CEO girlfriend promised to marry me if only I handed over my billion-dollar-worth project to her first love. I agreed without hesitation. Yet on the day we were supposed to make things official, she never showed up. I called her 99 times, but she didn't pick up once. Just when I was about to give up, I saw a post from her first love on social media, featuring a picture of them holding their newly issued marriage license. [From school uniforms to wedding vows. A love that never changes.] I quietly liked the post without making a scene. Moments later, my long-lost girlfriend finally called back. "Cyrus got into a car accident trying to save me, and he lost his memory. The doctors say he needs emotional stimulation to recover. Don't worry, though. Once he gets better, we'll get married. You're the one I love most." What she didn't know was that there would be no future for us. The moment she stood me up at City Hall, the system I'd bound myself to declared my mission a failure. I had seven days left. After that, I would be completely erased from existence.

I was working as a stunt double for a fight scene when a rising idol actor stabbed me with a real knife and sent me straight to the hospital. My actress girlfriend rushed over in a panic, fussing over me with endless concern. Before I could even feel touched, a floating comment suddenly appeared above her head. [When is Scott finally going to realize that the Best Actress linked him and Francis through a Beauty System?] [The more Scott cares about a certain part of his body, the more perfect that same part becomes on Francis!] The next second, my manager of five years hurried into the room as well. Another barrage of comments floated up. [The manager's no better. She tied them to an Achievement System. The harder Scott works, the more achievements Francis gets!] I stared at the two women in front of me and fell silent. So… my only option was to give up and do nothing?

For the 999th time, the system in my head issues a warning: [Warning! Your infatuation level has exceeded the safe limit! If you do not leave Eleanor Hayes within one hour, you will be erased!] I look up to find my CEO wife, Eleanor, standing protectively in front of her secretary, Charles Beaumont, in the hospital. He has falsely accused me of stealing his paintings, and she believes him without question. Right in front of me, she slashes the paintings I have spent three years creating and then orders me to apologize to Charles. "You stole Charles' paintings in the first place," she says coldly. "Everything I've done is to make it up to him. All you have to do is apologize. What's so hard about that?" I stare at her in silence as she shields Charles from me. I take a last glance at the paintings I have spent three years creating, then calmly speak to the system in my head. "If this obsession with her is what's causing the problem, then I want the highest level of authorization. Remove all the love I have for her. Immediately." The system replies, "Authorization request received." One hour later, I am cleared to leave the hospital. Eleanor is waiting outside. The moment she sees me, she blocks the door and grabs me, her eyes burning with anger. "Daniel, what kind of game are you playing now?" I look at her calmly. There is none of the anger, hurt, or love I once would have felt. Then I say evenly, "Ma'am, you've unlawfully assaulted me. Would you like me to call the police?"