Evelina felt the crushing weight of not just the wedding gown, but a memory that shouldn’t have existed anymore.

She remembered the bone-chilling frost that had seeped into her lungs during her final days in the North Tower. She remembered the sound of the lock turning for the last time, and the face of the man who had left her there to rot. Her husband.

I died, she thought, her breath hitching. I know I died.

But the air here didn’t smell like mold and wet stone anymore. It was thick with the expensive scent of jasmine incense and beeswax. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

The world was filtered through a red haze, the fabric of her veil but something else was obstructing her vision as well. It was a translucent blue screen that hovered just inches from her face.

[Integration Complete.]

[Current Era: Year 422 of the Imperial Calendar.]

[Welcome back, Host. The Villainess Vengeance System is now active.]

Evelina froze. Year 422? That was years ago. This was her wedding night, the night her long, slow descent into misery had truly begun.

The ’System’ was a concept she had yet to understand properly, but the words ’Welcome back’ felt like a cold hand on her heart.

The heavy oak doors of the master suite creaked open, the sound echoing off the high stone ceilings.

Evelina didn’t flush with the nervous excitement of a young bride as she had in her previous life. She simply watched the silhouette of a man move through the red tint of her veil.

Ace Alvarez, the Duke of the North, walked in with the gait of a man heading to a funeral rather than a marriage bed. He didn’t even bother to take off his leather riding gloves. He stopped several feet away, his shadow tall and imposing.

"Let’s be brief, Evelina," he began. His voice was exactly as she remembered, and utterly devoid of any warmth known to humankind.

This was probably his ’rehearsed speech,’ the one he had given her in her past life to ensure she knew exactly where she stood: at the bottom of his priorities, "This marriage is a political necessity. My borders are under threat, and your father needed the alliance. Do not expect me to play the part of a doting husband. I have no room in my life for love, and I will not be staying the night."

In her past life, Evelina had burst into tears before he even finished. She had begged him to stay, clutching at his cloak, making a fool of herself.

But today, Ace stopped talking. He frowned, his brow furrowing in confusion.

His bride wasn’t sobbing. In fact, she wasn’t even looking at him.

Evelina was staring blankly into the empty air in front of her. To Ace, she looked like she had lost her mind. To Evelina, she was frantically tapping on a glowing button that said [Help & Settings].

A sub-menu had appeared:

[Guide: How to earn Heart-Wrecker Points.]

[Step 1: Defy the expectations of your Primary Target.]

Evelina’s finger moved in a sharp, swiping motion, clearing a notification about ’Daily Login Rewards’.

The silence in the room stretched thin, becoming heavy with Ace’s growing agitation. He was a man used to being the center of any room he occupied whether he was being feared on a battlefield or envied at a royal gala.

To be met with this hollow, glassy-eyed stare was a blow to his pride he hadn’t anticipated. It also bewildered him.

He stepped forward, the spurs on his boots jingling sharply against the stone floor. The sound usually made servants tremble, but Evelina didn’t even blink.

"Are you even listening to me?" he barked, his voice dropping an octave, "If you are pretending, don’t bother with it. I am telling you that I will not be your husband in any way that matters. I am leaving for the border tonight. I expect you to manage this estate without pestering me with letters or tearful demands."

Evelina’s eyes tracked something invisible moving across his chest. In her vision, a new notification had just popped up: [Tutorial: Target Ace Alvarez is currently in ’Arrogant Talk’ mode. High point yield available for successful ’Indifference’ strike.]

Irritated by her continued silence, Ace lost his patience. He reached out, his gloved hand moving through the red haze of her veil to firmly grip her chin. He forced her head up, intending to look into her eyes and see the familiar spark of hurt... or fear.

Instead, he found eyes that were chillingly calm.

Evelina didn’t pull away. She simply looked at the space just to the left of his head, where a translucent gear-shaped icon was flickering.

"You’re blocking the ’Settings’ icon," she said, her voice as flat as a merchant counting coins. She reached up and made a sharp swiping motion in the air right next to his ear.

"Move," she commanded, "You’re in my light."

Ace froze, his grip on her chin faltering. He looked at her as if she had suddenly started speaking a foreign tongue. He was the Duke of the North, the Iron Wall of the Empire, and his bride had just told him he was... in the way?

[Notification: Primary Target is ’Utterly Baffled’.]

[First Strike Bonus: 100 Gold awarded!]

For a second, Evelina was confused by what was going on. But as she put two and two together and reflected on everything that had happened before she was lead to this ’bonus’, she was elated. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Evelina watched the gold counter in the corner of her vision tick upward. For the first time since waking up, she felt a genuine sense of satisfaction.