Meeting the Second Male Lead

Riley watched the flickering lights decorating the ceiling wall with uneasiness churning in her stomach, wondering since when did such a creepy and unmaintained area existed in her territory.

"The basement had always been this way, Boss." Lily, having regained her composure, explained with a calm front. "It is only in this kind of habitat can my mosses grow and perform the best. Moreover, it also works well in pressuring the prisoners, killing two birds with one stone."

"Right, I nearly forgot." Riley nodded in contemplation.

In their so-called fictitious world-of-a-novel, everyone possesses a special ability unique to their lineage and origin. These abilities naturally came in pair with their births into this world, though there were some rare cases such as late-bloomers or purely invalids with no special ability at all.

Like the female lead's miraculous "Healing for All" ability that connected her with the Saints of the legends and the male lead's "Sword Intent" that could be traced all back to the long history of his family's swordsmanship, Lily had the ability of growing, controlling, and sharing the five senses of the moses she grew and spiritually connect to – similar to what her family of farmers, in a way, were capable of.

This was exactly why she was able to become Riley's most trusted right-hand man and assistant, despite her original identity as Riley's personal handmaiden.

Lily was simply the best espionage talent Riley could ever find to provide the most important thing her ship lacked – surveillance. As for security and all the action happening in the field, her other trusted subordinate slash personal bodyguard Collin and his exceptional swordsmanship could easily cover for that.

"We're here."

Riley's attention snapped back to reality when Lily handed her the key to the locked room before them. She accepted the key with one hand but didn't immediately unlock the door.

Instead, once Lily left her as per her request, Riley lowered her head and completely drowned herself in her thoughts.

From this moment onward, every step she took and every decision she made would be immensely critical to her future life. Whether she could survive to see the other day or not, it would all come down to the second male lead's decision.

Or maybe, she could remove the man and take over the main lead's spot herself, easily escaping her ending, altering her fate and…

Riley flipped her hand and produced a dagger out of thin air. She then caressed the sharp tip of the dagger with a smile, giggling wickedly as she entertained the evil thought in her mind.

[WARNING! PLAN OBLITERATED! REMOVING THE MAIN LEADS IN ADVANCE AND RUINING THE MAIN PLOT IS NOT ALLOWED. THE HOST WILL BE SUBJECTED TO IMMEDIATE ANNIHILATION ONCE THE ABSOLUTE FORBIDDEN RULE IS BROKEN.]

'Immediate Annihilation! Seriously?' Riley rolled her eyes, itching to give the useless system who can only say no to this and that a beating. 'Instead of the Self-Saving System, why not rename yourself the Host-defying System or I Love the heartthrob Second Male Lead System instead?'

"System, be honest. You're not here to save the day nor provide me assistance but rather, make sure that I act within the plot and stay under control right?" Riley openly expressed her distaste with crossed her arms.

[H-How can that be?]

The system was quick to defend its innocent self.

[All this while, the system has been working with the data collection and now that it is completed, the system will proceed to calculate the best possible route for the host to survive the death flag, Francis Ravenmore.]

"Okay, go on." Riley saw the buffering sign and patiently waited for the results.

[The calculation has been completed. Please choose one of the provided routes below and proceed.]

1. Seduce the second male lead, Francis Ravenmore, and beg for his forgiveness.

2. Seduce the second male lead, Francis Ravenmore, obtain his pity, and find a way to stay by his side no matter what.

3. Seduce the second male lead, Francis Ravenmore, claim his heart, his soul, his everything, and make him hopelessly smitten so that he can't live without the Host.

[Note: The system personally recommends the third option.]

"…"

Weren't they all the same? To actually believe in the system's nonsense, blame her for being the foolish one.

Riley tightened her knuckles. With patience as vast as the blue ocean, she regulated her breathing in an effort to calm the raging fire in her heart.

"You're truly capable indeed." Finally, she muttered out with gnashed teeth. "Why not you seduce the second male lead yourself and make him show us some mercy? If that psycho is so easy to coax, I wouldn't be here pulling my hair to fuss over nothing!"

Not wanting to bother with the unreliable system any longer, Riley walked past the screen as if it was empty air, directly inserted the key, unlocked the room, grabbed the handle, and pushed the door open with one swift movement.

"From this moment onward, we'll do this in my way."

Light went in and out of the dark room as the door let out a few squeaking creaks, opening and closing in the count of two seconds.

Slowly, guided by a source of light as minimal as the small crack on the wall, Riley navigated the pitch black room with an erratically beating heart.

'You can do this, Riley.' She firmly told herself.

'There's nothing in this world that can't be negotiated. Everything is worth a price and as long as the condition matches, even the lowly life of another can be bought in a blink of an eye.'

Now, just how much would she need to negotiate her life out of the second male lead's grasp?

Riley raised her head and peered at her ominously dim surroundings, her eyes soon glued to the only figure sitting in the dark, his equally dark eyes now staring straight against hers.

For a moment, the face off between them was intense, with not a side willing to reveal any sign of weakness.

Veiled within the dark shadows, the second male lead Francis Ravenmore's current emotions were nearly impossible to decipher.

However, a short single snigger of contempt was all it took for chills to run down her spine, what more when the villainous man had actually got the mood to tease her with his signature voice — cold, emotionless, and yet magnetically enticing — a sinful combination indeed.

"Oh? And here I thought that the lady would wait for another few days."

Breaking the dead silence, Francis rose from his seat, the deep lines of his unclothed upper body flashing in and out of sight as the minimal light of the room flickered without control.

Though minute, Riley simply couldn't remove that sinful image from her mind in that instant. And this tranced look of hers naturally didn't go unnoticed under Francis' viper-like watch.

"What is it?" He chuckled, each of the words he spoke sounding more like a welcoming beck to throw and melt herself into his strong arms. "Can't hold back your dirty paws and that wolfish desire of yours any longer?"

"Of course not, this handsome mister sure can jest—" was what she was just about to say with a flirtatious smile and a complementary wink, until a sudden realization slapped her straight in the face.

Oh boy. The rising ends of her lips froze as Riley nervously gulped, her forehead sweating beads.

How could she forget that she was the very despicable culprit who had shamelessly ordered for the man's arrest to forcefully claim him as hers?

Wanting to feign innocence, replace the female lead as the second male lead's benefactor, and snatch the position of his white moonlight?

This cannon fodder villainess sure could dream big!