Melodramatic Short Stories & Mistress System Novels

During our return from the Frostfall Expedition, my boyfriend’s childhood sweetheart shoved me into a crevasse when I was caught off guard. Joshua Shaw pulled her into his arms to protect her, then turned around and yelled at me: "Linda, did you deliberately jump into the crevasse so you could frame Wendy for pushing you? "This expedition carries an important scientific mission. It isn’t a place for you to fight over a man!" A coppery sweetness rose in my throat, and the pain left me unable to speak. A short while later, a dull crack came from the ice beneath my feet, and my body suddenly dropped with it. Joshua became even more furious when he saw what happened: "Are you addicted to putting on an act now? If you like staying down there so much, stay there and come to your senses!" He even ordered the other team members to keep moving and forbade them from stopping to rescue me. However, he did not know that my right leg, trapped beneath the crevasse, had already been pierced by an ice spike. I could not move it at all. Worse still, my protective mask had shattered when I fell, and my body temperature was rapidly dropping. The system’s icy voice suddenly echoed in my mind. [Warning: The host’s life force is about to reach zero. Do you wish to leave this world permanently?] I watched Joshua protect Wendy Jones as they gradually disappeared into the distance. Then I closed my eyes and answered in my heart: "Yes!"

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.

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.

On my wedding day, I find out my wife has a system that lets her swap two people's lives. Once my love for her reaches its peak, she can make me switch lives with the man she's always loved. She makes me fall for her on purpose, all so she and that man can take everything I own. But after the swap, she comes to me with red-rimmed eyes and begs me to switch back. I smile and shove her away. "It's just cancer. Why should that stop you two from being together?"

In my seven years of my marriage with the Regent, I had risked my life bearing him five children. Every single one had died. My husband grieved so deeply that he collapsed. He knelt for three days and nights before the chapel in the bitter cold, praying for my well-being. He even spent a fortune to build a memorial tower in my honor. Everyone said the Regent loved his wife more than life itself. But the System's childbearing progress remained stuck at 90%. Then came All Hallows' Eve. I walked to the river alone to float a memorial candle for my fifth child, who had only just passed. What I found instead were four children carrying turnip lanterns, gathered around my half-sister, tugging at her skirts. "Mommy! Daddy said he's lighting a bonfire tonight!" Alaric Montague stood behind her, arms looped around her waist. His expression carried the same tenderness I knew so well. Even my father, as stern as he had always been, was chuckling beside them, more relaxed than I had ever seen him. My mother held a swaddled infant nearby, wiping the corner of the smallest child's mouth. "Odette is too frail to carry children. Thank goodness Alaric came up with a way to swap them." "Watch your words, Mrs. Devereaux," Alaric cut in at once, his gaze turning cold. "Laurel owed this to Odette. The debt is paid. I'll let her keep the next one." I bit down on my lip hard enough to taste blood. In my mind, an electronic tone stirred to life after years of silence. [Laurel, five registered offspring detected alive. Childbearing mission for the heirless Regent is complete.] [Portal activation imminent. Confirm departure?]