The Villainess's Reckoning

The location Vivian sent me led to a private restaurant in the city center.

By the time I arrived, the door to the private dining room was slightly ajar.

Voices drifted out from inside.

"Vivian, who would've thought we studied under the same professor? What a small world."

Nathan's tone was warm and friendly, completely different from the man who had called me a crazy woman in front of his friends the night before.

"I've been working on a new university project lately, and we're looking for promising young talent. Would you like to hear more about it?"

Vivian's voice remained calm.

"Tell me more about it, Nathan."

A flicker of satisfaction crossed Nathan's eyes as he began describing the project's prospects and resources in detail.

Vivian nodded along politely the entire time.

A few minutes later, once the discussion was over, she picked up her bag and stood.

"Nathan, I'll think about the project and get back to you."

Nathan clearly hadn't expected her to leave so soon.

"The food hasn't even arrived yet. I said I'd treat you to dinner. Why don't you stay and eat first?"

Vivian slowly shook her head.

"You and Ms. Hart are married. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to spend so much time alone with you."

Nathan's expression stiffened for a brief moment.

Then he let out a long sigh.

"Vivian, it's not what you think."

His voice turned bitter, as though years of suppressed frustration had finally found an outlet.

"My marriage to Quinn was arranged by our families from the very beginning. I never had a choice."

He paused, as if gathering his courage.

"She's... an extremely controlling person. Unreasonable. She flies off the handle over the smallest things. Everyone thinks we're happily married, but the truth is, I haven't had a single peaceful day since the day we got married."

I leaned against the wall and tightened my grip on the recorder in my hand.

The floating comments completely lost their minds.

[Okay, the male lead really is kind of a jerk. Yesterday he was trash-talking Quinn to his friends, and today he's playing the victim in front of Vivian.]

[Hold on. The villainess already derailed the original plot. Since he couldn't save the damsel in distress, he's trying a different way to win the female lead over.]

As he spoke, Nathan slowly rolled up the sleeve of his left arm.

Several shocking red marks on the inside of his forearm were exposed beneath the light.

"Her moods change without warning. In her eyes, everyone around her is just an outlet for her anger."

I stared at the marks on his arm and almost laughed.

Those injuries came from him getting drunk and crashing into a glass liquor cabinet the week before.

I was the one who treated them.

Vivian fell silent for a moment before slowly sitting back down.

Nathan's eyes lit up.

He thought his sob story had worked.

The floating comments exploded.

[The male lead is seriously disgusting. He blames everything on the villainess! Those injuries were obviously his own fault!]

[Forget the romance. I just want to watch these two women team up and destroy this scumbag.]

[+1! I'd watch a hundred episodes of two girls taking down a cheating loser together!]

I took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

The atmosphere in the room instantly froze.

Nathan shot to his feet.

His legs nearly gave out beneath him, and he looked seconds away from dropping to his knees.

"H-Honey... what are you doing here?"

I didn't answer.

I simply looked at him in silence.

Vivian spoke before I could.

"Ms. Hart, please don't misunderstand. Nathan was telling me about a project at the university. Since we studied under the same professor, we ended up talking a little longer than expected."

A flash of delight crossed Nathan's eyes.

He probably thought Vivian had genuinely been moved by his story and was now helping him cover his tracks.

"That's right. We were just talking about the project. Vivian's my junior from school, and I thought she'd be a great fit, so I recommended her."

The words tumbled out of his mouth as he plastered an eager, ingratiating smile across his face and looked at me.

I looked at his smug, two-faced expression and suddenly smiled.

"If you're discussing a project, then by all means, keep talking.

"I'll head home first. I'll make something nourishing for dinner tonight."

With that, I turned and walked out without looking back.

Behind me, Nathan let out a long breath of relief.

Maybe he was too busy celebrating his narrow escape to notice.

With her back still turned to him, Vivian gave me a small nod.

The floating comments flooded my vision.

[THEY MADE EYE CONTACT!!! IT'S OFFICIAL—THEY'VE JOINED FORCES!!!]

[I've only got one question now: when does this jerk finally get taken down???]