The Fool Persona

At the family tea-tasting event, I openly admit that I am terrible at it. I also announce that I am cutting ties with the White family and giving up my inheritance rights. My father trembles with anger and points at me while furiously questioning, "Are you out of your mind?" My fiance, Liam Ford, holds the fake heiress, Laura White, in his arms. He snaps, "Juliana White, if you can't handle losing, then don't agree to compete in the first place. The way you are acting now is an embarrassment to my family and me!" Only I know that I am not crazy. In my previous life, at this very tea-tasting event that determined who got the right to the inheritance, they joined hands to drag me down in the most humiliating way. Laura beat me and uttered every tasting note I came up with first. Again and again, I try to prove myself, only to be refuted by her each time. She became the celebrated tea prodigy, while I turned into a laughingstock who made a fool of herself. In the end, I suffer a mental breakdown and run out of the house, only to be hit and killed by one of Laura's fans. No one bothered to claim and bury my corpse. When I open my eyes again, I am back at my first family tea-tasting event after being brought back to the White family.

“Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.” ~ William Congreve Aretha Hawthorne has loved and dedicated her whole life to her husband out of pure love and loyalty and to her foster family out of gratitude for having taken her in at her lowest. However, on a day that’s supposed to be the happiest one of her life, she never could have predicted that the same people she loved so dearly would plot such evil against her. Publicly humiliated, heartbroken and also suffering from the loss of her unborn child, Aretha is filled with a deep hatred and an immense rage when she discovers that she’d been played and made a complete fool out of for years by her husband and her foster family. Aretha seeks revenge but knowing that she can’t go against both famous families on her own, especially not with her name still being sullied by the media, she is forced to flee the country to recoup. However, no one expects the disgraced Aretha to return a year later with a fortune that greatly supersedes those of her ex-husband’s family and foster family combined. And even more surprising, she appears to have garnered the attention of neither one nor two but three of the most eligible billionaire bachelors of the United Kingdom, who appear to have become completely smitten by her. Let the game of vengeance begin…

“Do you think I’ll die a virgin?” I stuttered, the alcohol making me sway until I fell onto his lap. “No,” he murmured, his voice dark and low. “I won’t let that happen.” His hands slid beneath my shirt, stopping only when they cupped my breasts. “I’ll make you taste heaven while you’re still alive,” he whispered. “And I’ll make that fool watch me fuck you until you forget he ever existed.” ***** Dahlia Hayes, a successful and renowned lawyer, faced the ultimate betrayal when her boyfriend of two years sold her nudes to buy a diamond ring for her best friend. That single act destroyed her career, shattered her reputation, and left her homeless. She thought her life was over, until she met him. Alec King. He's the cold, arrogant, but irresistible multimillionaire CEO of King Enterprises. Unlike everyone else, he didn’t cast her aside or judge her for her past. Instead, he promised revenge served on a golden platter. He vowed to help her rise again and make those who betrayed her fall to their knees, begging for mercy. But Alec’s help comes with one condition: She must marry him for a year… and let him show her what it truly means to be worshipped.

I use a full decade just to be able to stand by Claude Thorne's side as an equal. In the past, I used to be an outsider who was often ignored by others, but slowly, I've transformed into Claude's most trusted Beta as well as the future Luna. But I decide to leave Claude one month before the Luna coronation ceremony is set to begin. It's because Claude has personally placed the Luna crown, which is supposed to be mine, onto Victoria Grimm's head instead. "It's just a crown. Victoria doesn't have anyone left in this world. What's wrong with letting her wear it? You're the future Luna, so you must be more magnanimous." I never bothered crying or throwing a tantrum. Instead, I've secretly dissolved the mate bond between Claude and me. Just like that, I've graciously given away the position as Claude's mate to Victoria magnanimously, like the way Claude wants me to be. But he goes nuts instead. He tracks me all the way to the human society in an attempt to patch things up with me. But what he doesn't expect to see is Silas Wulfric, the legendary Alpha King, getting down on one knee in front of me. "Heather, since that blind fool is incapable of crowning you as his Luna, allow me to make you the Luna Queen."

So this is how the mate bond feels. A rush of energy, a pull like gravity tightening around us, and an almost maddening awareness of the other person. I wasn’t about to let it sway me though. Sure, the man in front of me is ridiculously perfect, but I wasn’t some love-struck fool who’d drop everything at the first spark of fate. I had a life, plans, and a fiancé waiting for me upstairs. I raised an eyebrow, forcing myself to stay calm even as my heart raced. “Take a number and get in line, sweetheart,” I said coolly, flashing the engagement ring on my finger in front of his gray eyes. “I’m otherwise occupied right now.” …Five years later, when I pushed the door open, my mate remained motionless on a leather couch, his piercing gaze boring into me with a cold detachment that sent shivers down my spine. He leaned back, the casualness of the gesture at odds with the intensity in his eyes. His arms rested lazily on the backrest, but there was nothing relaxed about him. His body was coiled tight, like a predator ready to pounce, and the air between us crackled with tension. “Is my number finally up?” he asks, his tone laced with bitter amusement. “My dear mate.” The words sting, but I can’t deny the truth in them. He is my last chance.

“What do you want, Aria?” I swallow hard, my palms sweaty. “I need to talk to you. About... us.” His look doesn’t alter, and for a second, I worry if he’s just going to walk away again. But he doesn’t. Instead, he straightens up, his gaze never leaving mine. “There is no ‘us,’ Aria,” he replies, his voice flat and cold. I feel a knot building in my throat, but I go forward. “You felt it, didn’t you? The tie between us. You can’t refute it.” He approaches closer, and for a minute, I think I see something flicker in his eyes, something that nearly seems like sorrow. But it’s gone as swiftly as it appeared. “You’re not my mate, Aria,” he replies, his voice tightening. “Don’t fool yourself.” The words hit me like a punch to the gut. I take a step back, my vision fading as the weight of his rejection slams over me. My heart feels like it’s being pulled apart, piece by piece. How can he say that? How can he deny what’s so painfully clear to me? “Damian, I...” I whispered, but he cut me off, his voice colder than ever. “I don’t want you, Aria. You mean nothing to me.” And with that, he turns and goes away, leaving me standing there, crushed.

Opening my eyes in an unfamiliar place with unknown faces surrounding me, everything started there. I have to start from the beginning again, because I am no longer Ayla Navarez and the world I am currently in, was completely different from the world of my past life. Rumi Penelope Lee. The cannon fodder of this world inside the novel I read as Ayla, in the past. The character who only have her beautiful face as the only ' plus ' point in the novel, and the one who died instead of the female lead of the said novel. She fell inlove with the male lead and created troubles on the way. Because she started loving the male lead, her pitiful life led to met her end. Death. Because she's stupid. Literally, stupid. A fool in everything. Love, studies, and all. The only thing she knew of, was to eat and sleep, then love the male lead while creating troubles the next day. Even if she's rich and beautiful, her halo as a cannon fodder won't be able to win against the halo of the heroine. That's why I've decided. Let's ruin the plot. Because who cares about following it, when I, Ayla Navarez, who became Rumi Penelope Lee overnight, would die in the end without even reaching the end of the story? Inside this cliché novel, let's continue living without falling inlove, shall we?

"Don't expect anything from me. Not my attention, not love." Hearing that, Leylah now knows that everything will never be the same again. The same man, the same voice, but it wasn't him. *** After almost three years of marriage, Leylah was still hopeful that a miracle would happen in her life. Hoping that her husband will have a change of heart and will love her again. But she was wrong. Love never happened. Not again. The universe must have conspired something behind her back to see horrendous scenes of her husband sleeping with another girl whenever he was at home. If only that alone happened then she could have forgiven him, but receiving a divorce papers from the man she love one day was a big blow she could never forget. She knew that this was bound to happen. After all, what can a one sided marriage like theirs end up, but a piece of white paper with a divorce written down on it? But no! She can't back down now! After hiding their marriage to the public for her husband's advantage, she can't back down now, looking more foolish than she has ever had! What was the purpose of those years she waited if she backed down now for nothing? So like a fool, she asked for a two months contract with her husband in turn for a divorce later on. But what do they know? Future is vague. No one knows what will happen.

Maddison, a tech-genius, was secretly married to Noah, the breathtakingly handsome heir of Natividad Hotel Group. It was an arranged marriage to fulfill the dying wish of his mother. Noah handed her an annulment paper to be signed. But her heart refused to let him go because she was in love with him kahit pa nga assistant lang ang tingin nito sa kanya. She confessed her love but got rejected. Mas lalong lumabo ang pag-asa niya ng bumalik ang ex-girlfriend nitong galing underworld. He totally abandoned her sa panahong kailangan niya ito. Nagpakababa siya at tinalikuran ang marangyang buhay na meron siya just to be with him. She decided to let go. Pero bakit tila nagbago ang ihip ng hangin? He did not want the annulment anymore. At pilit siyang pinababalik sa trabaho niya. She was such a fool na paniwalaang nahuhulog na din si Noah sa kanya. Nang malaman niya ang tunay na dahilan ng panunuyo ng asawa at nang malagay ang kanyang buhay sa bingit ng kamatayan, her broken heart was beyond repair! After the trauma and pain, she will take her sweet revenge. She was thrilled to see him suffer and fall! Ngunit sa kabila ng lahat, she still loved the bastard! Papayag ba siyang muling masaktan? A war between her heart and mind.

I spent five years weaving this pack's wards. But my mate, Alpha Jayden, tore that power from my hands. He gave it to her. To Chloe, the new Beta. The girl can't even conjure a simple shield. How could she ever hold the pack’s wards? I confronted Jayden, furious. He fed me a line about wanting Chloe to learn. To ease my burden. He claimed it hurt him to see me so drained, so overworked for our pack. And like a fool, I fell for it. I actually believed he cared. But on our tenth mating anniversary… On our tenth anniversary, Jayden skipped the one ceremony that mattered. The full moon ritual to forge our eternal bond. He was with Chloe. He claimed it was pack business, but I felt it. He gave her a temporary mark. A mark reserved only for a true mate. Our bond fractured. The pain was a constant, searing agony. The final straw? Jayden gave Chloe the Luna’s sacred heirloom. Right in front of me. That's when I gave up. I left. And I took my power back. The wards collapsed. When the enemy pack attacked, Jayden’s wolf nearly shattered. Only then did he cast that useless Chloe aside. He crawled back to me, fell to his knees, and begged me to return and protect him.