Surviving In This Filthy World As A Novel Villain

Chapter 224: Playing The Victim

While Alex gently massaged her foot, he mentally compared it to Sera’s. Three minutes passed without him even realizing it.

Clara, on the other hand, was dumbfounded.

Seriously? I gathered up all this courage to stick my foot out, and you’re really just giving me a simple foot rub?!

Watching Alex focus intently on massaging her foot, without making any other moves, Clara suddenly felt a flutter of happiness inside.

At the very least, she didn’t dislike this man.

As for feelings… those could be developed slowly later. There wasn’t time for that now. She just had to get on the train first and buy the ticket later.

It’s all that psycho’s fault. Everything is because of that psycho… Clara mentally blamed everything on Eric Vaughn, who was likely still in the hospital undergoing crotch surgery performed by those five ‘experts’.

And just like that, a world where only Eric Vaughn suffered was achieved.

Alex remained perfectly proper, making no further advances. Clara bit her lip, steeled herself, and decided to take matters into her own hands, launching a surprise attack. “Sorry, Alex.”

Alex is such a gentleman, so full of positive energy. If I don’t take the initiative, he definitely won’t have any improper thoughts.

So, let me be the bad guy!

Sorry, Alex

See? She even has to apologize to me! Alex thought gleefully.

“Clara, what are you doing? No, we can’t do this, we really can’t…” Alex, pinned beneath her, looked flustered, acting much like someone awkwardly receiving a red envelope during New Year’s. “Don’t do this, really don’t! No, absolutely not! Stop, quick!”

Half an hour passed.

The floor was a bit cold. Alex, ever considerate, helped Clara move to a warmer spot.

An hour passed.

Downstairs in her room, Ashley Dawson paced back and forth restlessly.

“Why isn’t it over yet? It’s just a meeting, does it really take this long to talk?”

She picked up her phone, then put it down again.

Ashley wanted to send a message asking her niece how the chat was going, but holding the phone, she didn’t know how to phrase it.

Alex had been upstairs for over an hour now. He was so good at charming girls; winning over her niece shouldn’t be too difficult.

But for some reason, Ashley couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off, though she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what.

“They didn’t… end up chatting their way into bed, did they?”

The thought barely surfaced before Ashley quickly pushed it away, breaking out in a cold sweat.

Impossible. Absolutely impossible.

Clara isn’t that kind of person.

Although she didn’t trust Alex, her niece wasn’t stupid either. If Alex tried anything inappropriate, she would definitely stop him.

Besides, her niece had trained in Taekwondo and could do the splits. Even if she couldn’t beat Alex in a fight, escaping shouldn’t be a problem.

Upstairs in the room, the storm had passed, and the sun was metaphorically shining again.

“Clara, how could you do this? How could you face your aunt after doing this?” Alex, having just finished enjoying himself, put on a pained and angry expression. He punched the duvet lightly, glaring furiously at the thoroughly ‘played-with’ young woman from . “I, Alex, have always prided myself on my self-control and loyalty in relationships! Now my innocence is ruined! How can I possibly face anyone again?!”

Taking advantage of the fact that Clara had made the first move, Alex struck preemptively, seizing the moral high ground.

Right now, Clara looked completely wrecked, her mind hazy, and the area below ached intensely, feeling like it couldn’t even close properly.

Bombarded by Alex’s sudden moral attack, her brain went blank. Dazed, she didn’t even know what she was saying.

“I… I’m sorry. I’m really sorry,” Clara mumbled, her face red, tear tracks still visible on her cheeks. She curled up, pulling the covers over her head, unsure what else to say except repeating choked apologies.

She was filled with self-blame and regret.

In her eyes, Alex was a true gentleman, polite and helpful, never asking for anything in return.

She had initiated everything, driven by her own desperate motives, potentially ruining his reputation built over a lifetime.

So, she understood that while some lecherous men might dream of such a situation, for a morally upright person like Alex, her actions were nothing short of an insult.

This actually confused Alex. What the heck did Ashley tell her?! Not only did things go incredibly smoothly, but somehow he ended up looking like the victim while she was the aggressor?

Something was wrong here.

Very, very wrong.

Could it be because Otis had come down the mountain? Was she afraid Otis would bring Eric Vaughn to the Dawson family, and her grandfather would force her to go through with the marriage then?

Thinking of this, Alex’s eyes suddenly lit up.

….

“Why did you have to do this? I promised your aunt I’d protect you from that psycho Eric Vaughn, but how can I possibly face her after this?!” Having figured out the female lead’s thinking, Alex’s eyes lit up. He pulled her into his embrace, stroking her smooth back, sounding utterly heartbroken.

When it came to acting shamelessly, Alex was quite the expert.

“No! Please, I beg you, don’t tell Auntie! She absolutely cannot know about this, at least not right now!” Clara’s body trembled violently. She clung tightly to Alex’s arm, pleading desperately, tears streaming down her face again.

It was hard to tell if the tears were leftover from the earlier ordeal or from the fear that Alex would expose her for seducing her blind date into bed.

Looking at the man who seemed to be beating his chest in regret, Clara felt even guiltier. But she had no choice.

There wasn’t enough time.

Before coming here, she never imagined she would do something like this. This kind of thing just wasn’t supposed to happen to her.

But after Alex’s analysis and questions, Clara got scared. She was terrified it was just as Alex said that her grandfather would sacrifice her for his own benefit.

If that psycho Eric Vaughn really went to the Dawson family home, it would be too late for everything.

Although she didn’t know this man well, Clara trusted her aunt’s judgment implicitly.

Seeing her reaction, Alex became even more certain his guess was correct. She was worried about Otis bringing Eric Vaughn to force the marriage. Too bad she didn’t know Eric Vaughn’s future was already sealed by him that [Dick Explosion Pill], which cost him several thousand Critical Points, was still waiting for Eric.

Eric Vaughn absolutely wasn’t going to, no matter who showed up. Especially not some weak miracle doctor with zero fighting ability.

But, of course, this female lead from couldn’t possibly know any of that. It was just too perfect.

Good old Eric Vaughn, being the helpful guy right to the end.

“You’re insulting me! You’re also insulting your aunt who loves you! And you’re insulting the sacred word ‘love’ itself!”

Realizing she didn’t know his true nature, Alex righteously played the part of the perfect gentleman, pressing his advantage from the moral high ground. “Do you even know what my relationship with your aunt is?”

“Aren’t you… friends?” Clara looked bewildered. That’s what her aunt had told her. She hadn’t said much, but she hadn’t mentioned any other kind of relationship either!

“You! You just rush into things without knowing anything!” Alex, who had just been stern-faced, suddenly softened his expression. He gently wiped her tears with surprising tenderness. “Your aunt and I met many years ago in Europe. She was still studying then, not yet engaged. I didn’t know she had a marriage agreement. Even though there’s a seven-year age gap between us, we fell in love. Later, she graduated and returned home. Forced by her family’s pressure for a business marriage alliance, we broke up…”

“Ah!” Clara listened, her pretty face turning deathly pale, her whole body shaking. She never, ever imagined she had just forced herself onto her aunt’s… man! Her ex-lover!

Clara froze, her mind completely blank. The way things were unfolding was far beyond what someone her age should have to handle.

Ashley Dawson had indeed studied in Europe. Alex knew this early on. After finding out about Eric Vaughn’s engagement to the Dawson family female lead, he’d had Mr. Waters investigate the personal details of everyone in the Dawson family. This included Clara’s aunt, Ashley, and her fiancé from the business marriage alliance the one who had died in a plane crash shortly after their engagement.

Actually, this detail was quite common in urban webnovels. People from major families often had experience studying abroad, usually at incredibly prestigious schools.

After being stunned silent for a long time, Clara finally came back to her senses and burrowed completely under the covers, drenched in sweat.

“What have I done? I actually forced myself onto Auntie’s man! Am I even human?!” Her emotions shattered, she couldn’t hold back anymore and burst into loud sobs.

[The Female Lead ‘Clara’ has a Mental Breakdown. Congratulations, you have earned 10000 Critical Points.]

“It’s not your fault. You didn’t know beforehand,” Alex said righteously, taking all the blame onto himself. “This is my fault. If I had been firmer, if I hadn’t worried about hurting you, I could have pushed you away. It’s all my mistake. Everything is my fault.”

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