Caius brushed past me, arm in arm with Poppy, his eyes fixed straight ahead, cold and indifferent. He didn’t even acknowledge me, as though I didn’t exist. So heartless, so cruel.
Once upon a time, Caius had promised me that his eyes would only ever hold me, that I was his one and only love.
He kept his promise—his eyes truly held his “one and only love."
As they walked by, I heard Poppy chuckle softly under her breath.
The world spun around me and I collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness.
My illness had taken a sharp turn for the worse.
The system coldly explained, ["That’s because Caius and Poppy are about to get married. They’re nearing their happy ending and a side character like you is no longer necessary."]
["Their wedding day will be the anniversary of your death,"] the system said, its tone merciless.
I ran my fingers over the bright red wedding invitation, then pulled out a beautiful dress from my closet. The system’s voice suddenly turned panicked.
["Tiara, what are you doing?!"]
I replied, "Why are you panicking? Didn’t you say that no matter what, the hero and heroine will always end up together?"
The system fell silent.
I knew I was unwilling to accept this.
How could the world be so cruel?
It was me—me—who met Caius first. Me who stayed by his side for five years. Me who loved him. We had already mapped out our future together. We even picked out a cozy little house to live in after we got married. I was a designer and together we had planned everything for our future home.
A warm, shared study. A bright master bedroom with a large bay window. A cat tower in the corner—because I had said that once we were married, we’d get a cat and name it "Pebble." It would be our precious little one.
But all of that vanished when the system appeared.
Poppy once approached me herself. She told me she had awakened with special memories, that she knew she was the heroine of a book and that I was just a side character, a mere stepping stone. With a smug look on her face, she said, "You’re just a character doomed to die early. You should leave Caius sooner rather than later."
But I didn’t want to leave. Then, the system appeared, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor and Caius lost his memories.