Chapter 5

Ruan Xi, in his original world, was just a loser who had nothing. Upon hearing that coming to this world would allow him to replace Ruan Tang as the protagonist and have a sweet pampered life of his own…

Without any hesitation, Ruan Xi signed an agreement with the System.

Ruan Xi believed that Ruan Tang’s ultimate success in the original book was only due to good luck and the people who were attracted to him acting as his golden fingers.

Thus, he decided without hesitation to snatch away all of Ruan Tang’s golden fingers.

And over these years, Ruan Xi and this System had indeed been executing this plan… Shen Mozhi, Zhou Yao, Wen Run, and even Ruan Ming—one by one, he had used the very same methods by which Ruan Tang had coincidentally caught their attention to attract their attention in advance, pulling them into his own camp, and step by step, with scheming effort, peeled away and dismantled Ruan Tang’s Protagonist Halo.

In the first few years, this plan was very successful. Ruan Xi had almost completely ruined Ruan Tang’s reputation, stripped and dismantled all of his golden fingers, leaving him isolated and abandoned.

But Ruan Tang did not become deranged and twisted as he had originally envisioned—

Nor did he degenerate into a supporting character to highlight him; instead, he grew increasingly calm and indifferent, more and more turning a blind eye to them.

And with Ruan Tang’s cold indifference, the amount of halo he could strip from Ruan Tang became less and less.

“You have already taken almost everything of his. There’s only one thing left—you haven’t managed to shatter his Divinity… His Divinity stems from his strong-willed soul. As long as no crack appears in Ruan Tang’s Divinity, you can never replace him as the protagonist.” That was what the System told him.

As the protagonist of this world, how could Ruan Tang be worthless aside from the admiration of others and his Pheromones?

It’s just that he had so many things that they concealed his halo.

The strength of the protagonist’s soul was simply unparalleled.

Ruan Xi clenched his hands into fists, wishing he could crush Ruan Tang to death. “What do I do? What should I do then?”

“You cannot kill Ruan Tang. The world’s rules stipulate that as long as Ruan Tang’s Divinity remains, the Protagonist Halo will always protect him. Without a crack in his Divinity, no one can kill him.” The System’s mechanical voice rang out formulaically in his mind. “Except for the villain.”

The world’s rules dictated that no one could kill the protagonist; only the villain, created by the world to be the protagonist’s lifelong enemy, had the slightest possibility of killing the protagonist.

Now Ruan Tang had lost all his halo and only had his Divinity left… The villain’s power had therefore increased infinitely, making him the one most likely to kill the protagonist.

Because the villain also bore a halo bestowed upon him by the world.

Upon hearing this hint, Ruan Xi immediately made a plan.

The villain in this book was none other than the Imperial Mad Dog, Duke Auston. He was an Alpha, and because of the uniqueness of Ruan Tang’s Pheromone scent, almost every Alpha who smelled Ruan Tang’s Pheromone would be drawn to it from the very first moment.

This mad dog duke from the imperial family was no exception.

The Pheromone Matching Rate between him and Ruan Tang even reached over 95%—a fairly high compatibility rate.

But the reason he ended up as a villain rather than one of the potential lovers in Ruan Tang’s stock-picking novel was this: he was attracted to Ruan Tang, but he had no desire to possess this Omega at all. Instead, he thought Ruan Tang’s skin was beautiful—fair as snow, delicate as if it might break if blown. He wanted to peel off Ruan Tang’s skin to keep it as a collection, to make a beauty lamp.

He felt Ruan Tang smelled wonderful, so he wanted to cut out his scent gland to use as perfume.

He was utterly a pervert with a thought process different from normal people.

And in the original book, after meeting Ruan Tang once, Auston kept doing this persistently. For such a villain who coveted the protagonist and wanted him dead, his final fate was naturally to be torn to pieces by the protagonist’s faithful admirers…

Ruan Xi no longer remembered who Auston’s partner was in the original book. He vaguely recalled that it seemed to be an Omega with a compatibility rate as high as 80%, who was scared to death by Auston on their wedding day.

Now, because Ruan Xi’s foreknowledge of the plot had successfully prevented the philandering stallion Ruan Ming, out of guilt toward his ex-wife and her two children, from extending that love to Ruan Tang and cherishing him—instead, Ruan Xi used Ruan Ming’s stubborn, self-willed subtle psychology to make him detest Ruan Tang…

Ruan Tang did not become Ruan Ming’s most beloved Omega child; instead, he lost all his halo. After receiving the hint from the System, Ruan Xi unhesitatingly schemed to bring about the current engagement between Ruan Tang and Auston.

After all, Ruan Tang and Auston had a high compatibility rate of over 95%… and Ruan Tang was not favored. Arranging their engagement was near effortless.

Recalling how Ruan Tang had personally said in front of Zhou Yao that he and Auston were quite suitable, Ruan Xi giggled, as if thinking of something extremely amusing, and murmured to himself: “My dear big brother, this isn’t me harming you. You made the choice yourself to marry that villain…”

“This Bluebeard duke is different from those Alphas who are captivated by your pheromones. If you get skinned, don’t blame me…” Ruan Xi got lost in his own fantasies. Every time he thought of Ruan Tang being killed, skinned, and having his gland removed by Auston after marriage, and himself replacing Ruan Tang as the protagonist, he couldn’t help but get excited.

He was completely unaware that he himself was just a puppet manipulated by the System.

…

Meanwhile, in the Auston Ducal Palace, the elderly steward, under the Queen’s orders, was carefully informing his master of the words Ruan Tang had said to his ex-fiancé—that he felt he and Duke Auston were quite suitable.

“That Omega really said he thought I was suitable for him, that I would be the most suitable husband for him…” Upon hearing these words, a glint of interest flashed in the strange Duke Auston’s eyes, and he let out an extremely terrifying laugh from his throat.

Interesting, how interesting.

In all his years, this was the first time an Omega had said he was suitable and considered him fit to be a husband.

“Yes, my lord.” The steward felt a chill all over upon hearing his laughter, unconsciously holding his breath, but still struggling to keep his voice calm. “I hear that this lady chosen for you by Her Majesty the Queen has a Pheromone Matching Rate with you as high as 95%… Surely the lady must greatly admire your majesty’s fame, love you deeply, and look forward to marrying you.”

In his heart, he greatly sympathized with the Omega who was about to marry Auston, but his mouth kept pouring out praises for Ruan Tang, intending to make Auston feel favorably toward him.

The Crown Prince was dead. Duke Auston’s offspring had become the last hope of Her Majesty the Queen and the family.

But this madman, Duke Auston, was not interested in that thing between Alphas and Omegas, nor in Omegas at all. He only liked killing and bloodshed… Marking and bonding were perfectly normal things for a normal Alpha, but for this one to do them was as difficult as ascending to heaven.

This time, he had finally agreed to marry, but his attitude was still very reluctant.

This lord’s favorite thing was to go against the Queen, to do things the Queen didn’t want him to do. No one could guarantee that he would be willing to mark that Omega and make him pregnant.

This was something that gave the Queen a great headache.

The Queen was very anxious, but she simply couldn’t speak directly to this son of hers for fear of provoking the opposite reaction. She could only have those close to Duke Auston drop hints.

They tried to guide Auston to develop good feelings for his future partner like a normal person… hoping that the natural attraction between Alphas and Omegas would bewitch him.

So that he would naturally mark his partner and make him pregnant.

But this one’s thought process was simply different from normal people’s.

Seeing that he had been silent for a long time, the steward breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he had hit the right note this time and that there was hope.

“Admires me, looks forward to marrying me?” Auston repeated the steward’s words, as if talking to himself, appearing very normal.

The steward immediately pressed his advantage, wanting to put in a few more good words for Ruan Tang: “Yes, my lord…”

“Good, very good. Since he thinks I’m suitable for him…” Auston suddenly laughed. His white teeth showed through the gaps in his mask, accompanied by his strange laughter, utterly bone-chilling: “Then I want to see just how brave he is.”

The implication in his words seemed to treat his future partner like some novel toy…

Hearing the meaning behind his words, the steward nearly fainted.

He had known this madman’s thought process was different from a normal person’s. If he were a normal Alpha—his face ruined, his legs disabled—if an Omega were willing to marry him, and a beauty famous throughout the Imperial Star at that, no matter what the reason, he would surely be grateful to the point of tears and cherish him carefully…

But this one, however—

Cold sweat broke out on the steward’s forehead. “My lord, the future lady is different from the Omega prisoners in the dungeon. You cannot…”

“You say this Omega is different from other Omegas. Do you think he’ll be fun, and not easy to kill?” Auston grew excited all of a sudden, appearing even more interested in Ruan Tang. “How many days do you think he’ll last in my hands?”

In all his life, the thing he hated most was the species known as Omegas.

He was not unaware of what he himself was, nor of his reputation outside. An Omega chosen by his venerable mother, and one who had actively chosen to marry him… He was probably also an ambitious Omega, like his mother, who thought she could manipulate Alphas and power on her palm.

Torturing such an Omega must be very interesting.

“My lord, this future lady is your partner, meant to spend a lifetime with you. You cannot treat him like that, you cannot kill him.” The steward had no idea how to handle this off-the-rails situation.

As a normal person, he simply could not understand a madman’s thought process.

“Partner? A lifetime?” At this, Auston let out a dismissive, mocking snort of laughter.

What kind of life did he have left anyway?

Living was the most boring thing in the world.

Therefore, he particularly enjoyed seeing death.