What are you doing, male lead! Didn’t the book say you “didn’t beg for mercy even after being burned by the fires of purgatory for three days and nights”? How come now, after just a few scoldings from her, you’re crying like this?

　　Is she really that scary?

　　Grace Carter was a bit stunned by his reaction, and then heard him continue to sob, “I’ll confess everything, just please don’t tell the elders! It was me who stole Henry Clark’s sword, making him use a broken iron sword for the sect competition… It’s all my fault, please spare me!”

　　Henry Clark’s sword.

　　He was the one who stole it?

　　This guy isn’t Henry Clark???

　　Grace Carter finally understood what it meant to have “ten thousand alpacas galloping through your mind”—she was so shocked she could hardly breathe.

　　If the one being beaten up isn’t the male lead, then…

　　She forced herself to maintain an awkward yet polite smile, turned her head, and took a close look at the black-clad youth holding the sword.

　　His sharply defined profile was a beautiful, cold white, and when bathed in the blood-red afterglow of the setting sun, it looked just like flawless white jade stained with blood, adding a touch of chilling wildness.

　　Her gaze landed on a pair of beautiful, upturned phoenix eyes, their dark pupils full of shadow, like a bottomless, icy, and eerie pool.

　　Beneath the outer corner of his right eye was a deep red teardrop mole, mentioned countless times in the novel, and unique to the male lead Henry Clark…

　　A deep red teardrop mole.

　　Grace Carter: Myo·car·di·al in·farct·ion.

　　Heaven wants her dead.

　　She might have, probably, possibly, mistaken the person.

　　The one lying on the ground was actually the villain extra Adam Sullivan.

　　No wonder when she pushed the door open, she saw that terrified look in Brian Cooper’s eyes. He wasn’t afraid of her, but of Henry Clark, who had suddenly fought back with his sword and looked like a demon.

　　So what’s the plot now?

　　The male lead finally stopped hiding his strength, counterattacked on the spot against the fellow disciple who tried to bully him, and in true villain style, pointed his sword at the guy’s neck.

　　And she, the author-designated vicious female supporting character, stepped forward to defend the male lead when he was being humiliated, coldly scolding the brat who bullied him.

　　Is this what the male lead and the vicious female supporting character are supposed to do?

　　Seeing her odd expression, Brian Cooper, standing to the side, was terrified.

　　He and Adam Sullivan were jealous of Henry Clark’s outstanding performance in the sect competition, convinced that kid had used underhanded means, so they cornered him in the disciples’ quarters and bullied him as usual.

　　They never expected Henry Clark to fight back halfway through and instantly knock Adam Sullivan to the ground.

　　Even more unexpected was that the personal disciple of Tian Xianzi would suddenly barge in.

　　He’d long heard that this young lady was notoriously unruly and domineering, and now she’d actually lowered herself to stand up for Henry Clark. What was this? It had to be love!

　　A lovesick girl, frustrated in swordsmanship but lucky in love, becomes infatuated with the mysterious boy who defeated her—not only chasing him all the way to his residence, but also unhesitatingly scolding the fellow disciples who bullied him.

　　He’d heard that these proud daughters of heaven always fall for those who defeat them; it seemed the storybooks were true after all.

　　Brian Cooper was both shocked and scared, spinning an entire tragic sect romance in his head about Grace Carter’s unrequited love for Henry Clark, but as the heroine of the story, Grace Carter herself was completely unaware.

　　She just felt—she was doomed.

　　She’d once promised the system to complete her tasks properly, but right from the start, everything had gone off the rails, the plot so shattered even its own mother wouldn’t recognize it.

　　This won’t do.

　　If you promise someone something, you have to do it well—even as a vicious supporting character, you need professional ethics!

　　“I didn’t come here specifically to help you.”

　　The original host had met Henry Clark before, so she couldn’t use “mistaken identity” as an excuse. Grace Carter gritted her teeth and forced out the words, her ears burning with regret.

　　Everything she said was true, but to the others, it sounded completely different.

　　Seeing the blush on the girl’s pale earlobe, Brian Cooper trembled.

　　She blushed as she spoke, and was eager to distance herself from Henry Clark—one look and you could tell she was a classic tsundere. If she didn’t come to help him, why say those things to Adam Sullivan?

　　Henry Clark remained expressionless, while Brian Cooper seemed deep in thought.

　　Grace Carter felt the atmosphere was off, so she met the former’s still-hostile dark eyes and, unwilling to back down, added, “Listen up, the only reason you beat me in the competition today was because I used less than half my strength. Don’t get too cocky—I’ll definitely beat you one day!”

　　These were the original host’s lines from the book.

　　But as soon as she said it, Brian Cooper looked even more like he’d just realized something.

　　He’d thought Grace Carter only fell for Henry Clark after losing to him, but from these words, it seemed this little ancestor had been smitten for a long time.

　　To let that kid win the competition, she’d only used fifty percent of her strength—fifty percent! For love, she could even disregard the honor of the sword sect. What a spirit of sacrifice and devotion!

　　No wonder she was a personal disciple—even her way of pursuing someone was so pure and unconventional.

　　If she ever found out that he himself had once bullied her beloved…

　　Adam Sullivan, who was still being held at swordpoint by Henry Clark, was already crying his eyes out. Brian Cooper, worried he’d end up the same, thought it best to slip away while the two were flirting.

　　So, after a moment’s thought, he lowered his voice and tried to ingratiate himself with a smile: “Sorry to intrude, may I take my leave first?”