Chapter 3

I reached out and patted her head. “But this time, Dad really is leaving. The kind of leaving where I never come back.”

“You’re really enough!” Sophie suddenly grabbed the doll in her hand and threw it at me, her face full of disgust. “If you’re going to get lost, then leave sooner. Better yet, never come back and ruin the life Uncle Blake, Mom, and I are supposed to have as a family of three!”

The doll hit my forehead perfectly.

I touched it. It seemed to have split open a little, but I didn’t feel any pain at all.

I thought that maybe, as we were nearing the end, the system no longer needed to make my memory deteriorate.

But in doing so, it let me remember many things I didn’t want to remember.

Like this scene right now.

My heart hurt so much it felt like I couldn’t breathe.

I slowly stood up and said with a smile, “From now on, Blake will be with you. You’ll probably never think of me again.”

I quietly closed the door. Just after I left the neighborhood, a Range Rover stopped in front of me.

The window rolled down slowly.

I saw a sharply defined face.

It was Blake.

The man Claire had never been willing to let suffer even the slightest grievance.

Originally, as his substitute, I had come into this world to replace his place in Claire’s heart. Clearly, I hadn’t done that.

Instead, I had made Claire even less willing to let him go.

“Ryan, long time no see,” Blake said with a smile, the ring on his ring finger especially eye-catching. “Claire and I are planning to get married. You have to come witness our happiness then!”

I stared at the diamond ring in his hand. It was a matching set with the one in Claire’s hand. The system had originally wanted her to put it on my finger, but Claire wasn’t willing. She thought someone like me didn’t deserve such a pure ring.

She went against the plot and personally put the ring on Blake’s hand.

That same night, I was punished by the system. Not only did my memory deteriorate, I also somehow fell and broke my leg.

I spent a full three months recovering in the hospital.

My thoughts came back to me, and I looked at him with a smile, saying congratulations.

Just as I was about to leave, my steps staggered a few times.

It felt like my body was getting more and more unreal.

Probably because the plot had deviated too much. I thought I probably wouldn’t last more than a few days before I left.

“I heard from Sophie that you just threatened her with disappearing to force her to choose?” He smiled disdainfully. “Now that the plot’s over, you can’t keep trying to force her to stay by your side.”

I froze for a moment. So he knew about the system too.

Claire really didn’t hold anything back from him.

But now, I didn’t care.

After all, nothing I was supposed to get would change, and I wasn’t going to fix the off-track plot either.

This world wasn’t going to exist for much longer anyway.

After moving out, I didn’t look for a house. Instead, I checked into a five-star hotel.

For the last stretch of time, I wanted to treat myself a little better.

[Host, the plot unfolds from your perspective.] I heard the system’s voice, but I didn’t pay it any mind.

I casually opened my phone.

A news alert suddenly popped up on the screen.

It was an interview with Blake and Claire.

Both of them were smiling happily in the video.

Love is always full of guilt and debt. In this moment, that feeling suddenly became something you could see and touch.

Because she felt sorry for Blake, Claire was in such a hurry to give him a title.

[Host, you must attend Blake and Claire’s wedding.]

I was stunned for a second.

“Why? This is completely off the original plot. Don’t tell me you’re breaking down?”

[The system has bug fixes. The host doesn’t need to worry about that. You only need to worry about yourself now.]

I was momentarily speechless.

[Please witness their relationship as soon as possible.] After speaking, the system added, [Very soon, you’ll be able to leave this place.]