No Ferry for the Rest of My Life

To save the villain Vincent Graves from being hacked to death, I used up the three Immunity Tokens the System had given me.

And in doing so, I completely cut off my way back to the modern world.

Vincent married me to repay the debt.

But in the third year of our marriage, he brought home a woman who claimed to be a "companion silicone AI."

I knew she was the little secretary he kept on the side.

But I didn't call it out.

Since she was an AI, I made her kneel on the floor and scrub it with a rag, and I made her reach out and carry a scalding boiling clay pot.

When the woman's hands were covered in blisters from the burns, crying with pain but not daring to make a sound

Vincent finally couldn't keep up the act.

He kicked the table over and clamped his hand around my throat.

"Adeline Harding! Are you some kind of psychopath?! You can't even stand having a robot around?!"

Looking at the heartache he couldn't hide and the bone-deep disgust for me in his eyes

I suddenly felt that every blade I'd taken for him and all the blood I'd shed for him over the years had become one enormous joke.

I didn't struggle. I just looked at the "AI" hiding behind him, giving me a taunting smile.

"Vincent, are a robot's tears artificially synthesized too?"

He went rigid, and the hand at my throat instinctively loosened.

I straightened my collar, didn't spare him another glance, and in my mind pressed that bright red button.

"System, initiate the Soul Severance Protocol."

The protocol has taken effect. Your body will turn to ashes within 48 hours, and the male lead of this book's world will lose the protection of your fortune and fall into hell.

......

I looked out the window at the gray, rainy day.

The cold wind of the rainy day poured in through the gaps in the window and blew against my face.

Current countdown: 47 hours and 59 minutes.

The System's cold, mechanical voice sounded in my mind right on schedule.

I raised my left hand and looked at my ring finger.

The skin at the edges of the nail had turned a dry, ashen gray, with the texture of dried, cracked mud.

A gust of wind blew, and a grain of fine sand flaked off the pad of my finger and drifted into the air.

This was the price of severing the soul.

Vincent stood in the living room, his hands trembling faintly.

Lavinia was curled in his arms, her palms covered in red, swollen blisters.

Clear tears slid from the corners of her eyes, running down her delicate jawline and dripping onto the floor.

"Vincent, it really doesn't hurt. My program doesn't have pain sensation set."

Lavinia's voice carried a deliberate mechanical quality, but her body shrank even deeper into Vincent's arms.

Vincent's face was ashen; he didn't even dare to meet my calm eyes.

He avoided my gaze and roughly scooped Lavinia up into his arms.

"Get the best burn ointment. There had better not be a single scar!"

Vincent shot me a cold glance and gave the order to the bodyguard behind him.

The bodyguard bowed his head in acknowledgment and quickly turned to leave.

I watched Vincent's back as he carried Lavinia away, cradling her so carefully, and said nothing.

Three years ago, on a rainy night, he had collapsed in a dark alley, covered in blood.

His enemy's machete had swung down at his neck, and it was I who threw my body between them to shield him.

Back then, his eyes had gone red, and he had clutched me tight with his blood-smeared hands.

"Adeline, in this life I will never let you suffer the slightest grievance."

The warmth of his body when he said those words still seemed to linger on my skin.

Now that promise had become a slap, striking me hard across the face.

I turned and walked to the sink, my face blank.

The diamond ring on my left ring finger threw off a cold light under the lamp.

He had bought it for me with the first clean money he ever earned; he once said it was his entire fortune.

I braced my right hand against the diamond ring and yanked it outward.

It left a red mark cut across my knuckle.

Ding.

The ring dropped into the marble sink with a crisp metallic clink.

The running water washed over it, and it slid down into the dark mouth of the drainpipe.

I didn't reach in for it. I just turned on the tap and rinsed the sand flaking off my fingertip.

The sand at my fingertip seemed to have spread another inch; the gray had already covered half the nail.

I calmly felt my life draining away, then turned and walked into the closet.

I opened the wardrobe and started clearing out everything that was mine.

There wasn't really much to pack, just a few simple changes of clothes.

Ding-dong.

The phone lying to one side gave a soft chime.

The screen lit up. It was a text from Vincent.

"Adeline Harding, stop making a scene. Lavinia is just a test AI with no feelings. If you dare go after her again, I'll cut off the funding for that orphanage you sponsor!"

Looking at the real-world leverage he was so proud of on the screen, I only felt how pathetic it was.

Before, the moment he brought up the orphanage, I would cave, bowing my head to him in tears.

Because it was the only thing I cared about in this world.

But now, in the face of the countdown, those attachments had lost all meaning.

He was so sure I was still the indestructible body that could forgive him an infinite number of times.

He had no idea my life had officially entered its countdown.

I didn't reply to the text. Instead, I swiped my finger across the screen to the block button.

The instant I pressed block, there wasn't even a ripple in my heart.

I turned and picked up the photo of the two of us that sat on the desk.

I pried the frame apart and tore the picture inside with both hands.

Riiip.

The photo split down the middle, and Vincent's handsome face was torn in two.

I threw the scraps into the trash can and zipped my suitcase shut.

Suddenly, from the entryway came the rapid sound of a fingerprint unlock.

With a beep the lock sprang open, and Vincent strode in, cold radiating off him.

His eyes locked hard onto the suitcase I was packing.

Vincent Graves strode across the entrance hall, crossed the few steps to my suitcase, and kicked it over onto the floor.

The suitcase rolled halfway across the wooden floorboards, its contents spilling out.

"Adeline Harding, what are you throwing a fit about now?"

Vincent's chest heaved violently, and a flicker of panic passed through his eyes.

But he quickly buried that emotion and looked down at me with a cold, arrogant gaze.

Lavinia Fox followed him in, her hands wrapped in thick white bandages.

She looked at me timidly with her red, swollen eyes, shrinking back slightly.

"Vincent, is it because I'm here that Adeline is upset?"

Lavinia's voice trembled as if she were about to cry, but she deliberately bit down hard on the word "sister" as she called me.

As she spoke, she walked straight to the display cabinet in the center of the living room.

Inside its glass case sat a white silk scarf stained with dried blood.

It was proof that years ago I had torn off my hem to bandage Vincent's fatal wound in that alley.

For three years, Vincent had never let anyone touch it, and he even wiped down the glass case himself every day.

Lavinia stepped up to the cabinet and reached out with her bandaged hand, as if she had brushed against the glass case by accident.

Crack.

The glass case fell to the floor and shattered into pieces.

The white scarf slid out and dropped straight into the still-burning fireplace beside it.

Crimson flames leapt up all at once, devouring the dry silk in an instant.

I instinctively took a step forward.

But in that moment Vincent stepped in front of me and clamped down on my left wrist.

His grip was enormous, and he hurled me hard onto the sofa beside him.

"Lavinia's system is just out of balancewhat are you going crazy about!"

His roar echoed through the living room.

My lower back slammed hard against the sharp corner of the coffee table, and searing pain swept through my whole body in an instant.

Blood surged in my chest, and a warm, metallic sweetness rose to my throat.

I clenched my teeth and forced that mouthful of blood back down.

As I swallowed it, I could feel the ashing inside me speed up again.

I turned my head and looked at the scarf crumbling to ashes in the sea of fire.

Three years ago, Vincent had held this scarf and kissed the bloodstains on it.

"Adeline, this is my life. I'll remember it as long as I live."

His voice still seemed to echo in my ears.

And now he held the very culprit in his arms without a care, looking at me coldly.

"So it burned. It's just a scrap of cloth. Tomorrow I'll buy you a whole cabinet of Herms."

There was not a trace of warmth in Vincent's voice.

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand, without shedding a single tear.

The last string in my heart, the one called hope, snapped completely.

Seeing me so unusually quiet, Vincent assumed I had finally learned to obey.

He walked over and pinched the back of my neck with his rough fingers, as if bestowing a favor.

"Come with me to the auction at the underground black market tonight. Behave yourself, and I'll overlook the little tantrum you just threw."

He didn't know that the hourglass of my life had already run out by half.

Right now, even standing took an enormous amount of effort.

I didn't resist. I just nodded at him faintly.

Lavinia hid behind Vincent's shoulder and flashed me a venomous, secret little smile.

I had just changed into a high-necked long dress that could hide my left arm, which was starting to turn transparent.

And in that very moment, someone smashed the windshield of Vincent's private car from outside.

Glass shards sprayed across my field of vision, striking the trim panel inside the car door.

The ear-splitting shatter echoed through the underground black market parking lot, mixed with the dull thud of something heavy slamming into metal.

"Ambush! Protect the boss!"

A bodyguard's furious shout came from outside the car.

Several black vans came barreling in, pinning our car into a corner.

The door was wrenched open, and the James family, Vincent Graves's mortal enemies, poured out with a pack of thugs radiating menace.

"Vincent Graves, today's the day you die!"

The man in front held a cold black handgun, the muzzle aimed straight at the back seat.

Vincent's face turned instantly grim, and he reflexively moved to draw his gun.

But Lavinia Fox, tucked in his arms, let out a shrill, high-pitched scream and clung tight to his right arm.

"Vincent! I'm so scared! Save me!"

Lavinia's body shook violently, dragging Vincent's body over to one side.

In the split second the man pulled the trigger, Vincent made a move that turned my blood to ice.

Instead of pushing Lavinia away, he twisted sharply, grabbed my shoulder, and shoved me straight out the car door.

His strength was enormous, and, completely unprepared, I met the fired bullet head-on.

"Bang!"

The muffled gunshot exploded in my ears.

The bullet grazed my shoulder, kicking up a spray of blood.

If I hadn't instinctively twisted my body the instant I was shoved out, that bullet would already have gone right through my heart.

I hit the muddy ground hard, and a searing pain tore through the wound.

Blood mixed with the cold rain and spread across the concrete.

Vincent, meanwhile, was already holding Lavinia, using the car for cover as he rolled behind a nearby stone pillar.

Anxiously checking Lavinia's face, he shouted at me where I lay in the mud.

"Adeline Harding! What are you just lying there for? Use those damned skills of yours and take them out!"

His voice carried the tone of a command he took entirely for granted.

He was certain I had the kind of luck that turned disaster into safety, certain I could still stand in front of him like an invincible war god, the way I had countless times before.

But he had no idea the Immunity Tokens the System had given me had already been used up saving him.

The heavy blood loss made my vision black out in waves.

I looked down and saw that my legs had turned into semi-transparent gray phantoms.

Fine grains of sand kept flaking away in the rain, scattering on the wind.

Listening to Vincent's almost shameless orders, the scene of our first meeting rose in my mind.

Back then, to keep from dragging me down, he was willing to have three of his own ribs broken and still fought to push me out of harm's way.

The split between the present and the past reached its peak in that instant.

I let out a bitter laugh and, using the last of my strength, crawled hand and foot into an abandoned sedan with its door hanging wide open.

With my blood-smeared hands, I locked the door tight.

The bodyguards outside finally reached the scene and subdued the attackers. Vincent came striding toward the car I was in.

He yanked open the badly warped door.

The car door was wrenched open with brute force, metal screeching against metal.

Vincent Graves stood outside, his face full of fury, his suit spattered with mud and water.

"Adeline Harding, what were you doing back there? Do you have any idea how dangerous that was!"

His voice was thick with accusation and anger.

But the moment his gaze landed on me, it cut off abruptly.

I was too weak to even lift my head. My life countdown had only five minutes left.

By now my legs had completely turned into faintly glimmering gray sand.

The grains drifted out through the gaps in the wrecked cabin, dissolving little by little into the air on the wind.

Lavinia Fox came up from behind Vincent. She looked at my vanishing legs, a flicker of panic crossing her face, but she quickly slipped back into a fragile, delicate expression.

"Mr. Graves, is Miss Harding pulling some holographic projection trick again to frighten me?"

Vincent ignored Lavinia.

He stood frozen in place, as if struck by lightning.

"Adeline... where are your legs?"

Vincent's voice began to shake. He suddenly shoved Lavinia aside and lunged toward the car seat.

He reached out both hands, wanting to pull me into his arms the way he always had.

But when his hands touched my body, they passed straight through my empty chest.

He grasped nothing but a handful of cold air.

The need for control he'd been so proud of shattered utterly in that instant, and his face showed a terror and despair I had never seen in him.

"Adeline! What is going on? Don't scare me, I'll call a doctor right now!"

He clawed frantically at the scattered gray sand, but the grains slipped mercilessly through his fingers.

Watching him finally break down, I felt nothing but immense satisfaction.

With my right handthe only part of me that still held physical formI gently patted his cheek, pale as paper.

This was the last touch I would leave him.

No resentment, only utter indifference and cold charity.

"Vincent Graves, your gratitude disgusts me."

Countdown at zero. Soul Severance complete.

The System's notification blared inside my mind.

My body crumbled in an instant in the first ray of dawn.

I turned into a sky full of drifting ash, burying Vincent completely within it.

In this cruel world the male lead had built, I severed every bond and every last attachment.

Vincent knelt in despair amid the ashes, and the plain hoop earringthe one thing I had never taken offgave a crisp, ringing sound.

It landed right in his mud-stained palm.