Facing her questioning gaze, Luo Wei slowly spoke.
"Due to injuries from that last Black Water Town Cult case, I had to recover overseas..."
This was the official answer, as it was designed for him in the game's second playthrough.
However, Ophelia seemed uninterested in his explanation, her light blue eyes fixed intently on him without blinking.
"But why didn't you take me with you that last time?"
"It was too dangerous," Luo Wei said.
"Dangerous?"
Ophelia suddenly sat up from Luo Wei's embrace, her previously smiling face instantly becoming expressionless.
"Because it was dangerous, so you took other women instead? Were they more capable than me?"
"Uh..." Luo Wei stammered, "It wasn't like that..."
"It was exactly like that..."
Ophelia's gaze grew colder, "Her, especially that gloomy one - ever since you met her, your eyes were always on her. You even gave her priority when distributing those mysterious items from your investigations, not me."
Luo Wei felt helpless - he just wanted to complete the game. Logically speaking, shouldn't equipment and items go to the stronger characters...
Besides, Ophelia wasn't just any noble lady - how could the old emperor spare him if he let her tag along for all that fighting?
"You've never taken me seriously!!" A hint of dark red flickered in Ophelia's eyes.
"Neither before nor now - you were gone for four whole years, and when you came back, I wasn't even your first thought!"
"It was that tentacle monster sister of yours!!"
"And!"
She slammed a dimly lit photograph onto the dining table.
"Who is this woman??"
Luo Wei stared at the photo in shock - it showed him dining with Evelyn.
The problem wasn't just the dining - why did they both look so intimate and happy?
He couldn't remember being on such good terms with the newly contained vampire teacher last week - hadn't she wanted to kill him then...
"How is it that every time I take my eyes off you, you're flirting with another woman?"
Those dark red eyes watched him dangerously.
A cold aura spread throughout the dining room...
[Contamination +5]
[Contamination +5]
[Contamination +5]
Luo Wei nervously watched her every move, worried that with such rapid contamination increases, she might suddenly turn violent.
However, she seemed lost in thought.
"You were always like this before, saying such sweet things to people, unknowingly opening up a lonely girl's heart..."
She was reminiscing about something, a blush appearing on her pale cheeks.
Then, her tone shifted.
"But after saying all that, you ran away, busy chasing after other women!"
She leaned in closer to Luo Wei, expressionless, her dark red eyes growing more dangerous.
"I bet you said the same things to them..."
"It must be so, it must be..."
Luo Wei showed an awkward yet innocent smile, silently cutting his steak.
He dared not say anything, knowing anything he said would only agitate her more.
But Ophelia wouldn't let him off so easily. She grabbed the dinner knife from his hand and took it away.
Luo Wei's heart skipped a beat.
Seeing his expression, Ophelia said softly: "However, there is a solution..."
Luo Wei looked up in surprise - what solution?
Ophelia played with the knife in her hand, a cruel smile gradually appearing on her cold, beautiful face.
"Seeing how concerned you look."
"You wouldn't want them to die, would you..."
Luo Wei carefully controlled his expression, not answering, just silently staring at the steak before him.
The knife gently brushed across Luo Wei's fingers before she placed it back in his palm.
"Don't just eat steak, try the other dishes too. See if they're better than what you had at Royal Bay Restaurant with Helena?"
Her tone carried a hint of mockery.
Luo Wei could only nod silently, his palms sweating.
Facing this woman who could see through his emotions and had such strong controlling tendencies, even speaking was a mistake...
Better to stay quiet...
Seeing Luo Wei behaving normally and being obedient, Ophelia smiled happily.
Like ice melting in early spring.
"Curious about my solution?" Ophelia leaned close to Luo Wei's ear.
Her silver-white hair fell forward, tickling him slightly.
"My solution is very simple~"
Luo Wei looked up at her.
Ophelia smiled faintly, "As long as you stay here with me and don't try to escape, that cat and dog living at your house won't die, and I won't drive them out."
Luo Wei paused.
Cat and dog?
Who was the cat? Who was the dog?
Ophelia smiled as if it was perfectly natural, "After all, I'm the mistress of that place, aren't I?"
"Just staying here is enough?" Luo Wei asked.
"Of course." Ophelia nodded seriously, "As long as you stay here with me for a month, oh, two weeks is fine too, I won't interfere with anything you do afterward."
Luo Wei's eyes widened slightly, filled with disbelief.
Just like that?
Stay with her in this suburban manor for two weeks, and everything would be resolved?
How could it be so simple?
Seemingly sensing his doubt, she smiled and emphasized:
"It's true, I keep my word. In the future, even if you want me to live with you in that strange old mansion of yours, that wouldn't be impossible."
"But..." Luo Wei thought for a moment but didn't continue.
The old mansion had containment abilities and was the source of his power - given her threatening behavior, how could he dare let her stay there?
He frowned at her beautiful face, flickering in the candlelight.
There must be a scheme here, some grand plot he couldn't foresee.
But there were too few clues for now.
"I accept," Luo Wei nodded.
If he wanted to know what Ophelia was really planning, it was necessary to continue playing along with this act.
"I know what you're thinking~" She fluttered like a butterfly to his other ear.
"Since we've made our agreement, I should tell you some rules of this manor."
She held up one finger.
"1. Don't try to leave the manor grounds. Of course, you won't be able to escape anyway, but if you try... punishment will come swiftly."
"2. Don't make me angry, be obedient and do as I say, or you'll be punished!"
"3..."
Ophelia stared at Luo Wei as she raised a third finger.
Her tone became extremely serious.
"3. The punishment I mentioned above is death."
"Even though I like you very much, I cannot prevent this death. It's death in the truest sense - the worst possible ending that neither of us would want."
She asked softly: "Do you understand?"

d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!

tions: attribute allocation, analysis, proficiency, and simulation. Specializing in mechanical alchemy, from crafting sorcerous battle armor to handcrafting mechanical maidens, his mechanical legion conquers endless realms... Relying on his wits, he begins with a student-teacher romance, wins over a female director, enslaves a female assassin and a underworld queen, becoming the husband of a Grand Duchess... He enslaves the Goddess of Magic from the divine realm, developing his power simultaneously in both the Wizard World and the Realm of Gods...

ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"

he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...