After I Returned to My World, My Target Went Mad With Regret

The years I spent working to win over Fabian Delgado cost me more pain than I can say.

His childhood friend pushed me into the water three times.

She tried to run me over with a car five times.

And after she finally drugged me and caused my miscarriage, Fabian at last drove her out of the city.

Just as Fabian and I were starting our new life together, just as we were expecting our child again, Athena Lawrence reappeared. She stood before him, weeping, confessing her sins.

"Fabian, I was wrong. I really do know I was wrong."

She only had that one line, said over and over, and yet Fabian's face changed.

"Winona Sanders, Athena knows she was wrong. She's suffered so much, and she's been punished for it."

"And besides, our child has come back to us."

"Winona, give her one more chance. Please?"

These two years I'd thought of as sweet came crashing down in that single moment.

I tugged at the corner of my mouth and summoned the System.

"I want to leave this world."

The System's cold voice answered.

"If the host leaves this world, the original body dies automatically. The child in your womb will die as well."

"Is the host certain?"

"I'm certain!"

"Program initiated. In three days, the host returns to the original world."

1.

The instant I saw Athena Lawrence, my hands clenched tight, my eyes filling with hatred.

Without thinking, Fabian shielded her behind him.

"Winona, Athena really does know she was wrong."

"Stop nitpicking over every little thing."

My body went rigid, and I stared at Fabian, unable to believe it.

He was frowning, his whole face full of disapproval.

For a moment, I felt as if I'd been dragged back three years.

Every time Athena hurt me, Fabian would say the same thing.

He'd say Athena was still young, that she didn't know any better.

He'd say Athena was only joking with me.

He'd say I should endure it, for his sake.

Even when I nearly drowned in that water.

Even when the car broke three of my ribs.

Even when I lost the child Fabian and I had made.

Every time, he told me to endure it.

Only that last time, I refused to endure it anymore.

Ignoring the body that had only just miscarried, I took a knife and pressed it to Athena's throat.

Back then, Fabian's eyes went bloodshot as he pulled me into his arms.

"Winona, she isn't worth it."

"Athena will be punished!"

"We'll have another child!"

...

He drove Athena out of the city.

Under fireworks that filled the whole sky, he gave me the grandest wedding.

And we had our child.

Until this moment, with Athena back and Fabian defending her.

It made these two sweet years feel like bubbles that could burst in an instant.

The fight went out of me all at once, as if every ounce of strength had been drained from my body.

Looking at the man in front of me, I felt like I didn't know him at all.

Just the night before, he'd held me, his palm resting on my belly, talking with me about names for our child.

Now every trace of that gentleness and care was gone, and his face had turned hateful to me.

"Fabian, I said no!"

I rarely spoke so sharply, and for a moment it left him stunned.

I didn't give him time to react. I kept my eyes fixed on him and said it flatly, without room for argument.

"I won't forgive her!"

"You said you'd never take her side again!"

"You promised me, Fabian."

His eyes were unreadable. He opened his mouth, but no words came.

I looked at him, then lifted the hem of my dress, baring the leg still scarred from the steel plate they'd put in.

I was shaking with emotion.

But Fabian only sighed, avoiding my eyes, his voice low.

"Winona, it's all in the past."

"It's been two years. Athena has suffered plenty too. You have to move on. Stop clinging to the past."

The scars that had long since healed seemed to throb faintly now.

I looked at Athena, hiding behind Fabian.

She was no different than before. If anything, she'd filled out a little.

And yet Fabian said she'd suffered.

While my body was covered in scars, and all Fabian could say was, stop clinging to it.

I felt like a joke.

"Fabian, I will never forgive someone who hurt me and killed my child!"

The words had barely left my mouth when Athena flung herself down at my feet, her face streaked with tears, swearing to me.

"Winona, I didn't know any better before."

"I truly understand my mistakes now."

"These two years I've done nothing but repent. I'm begging you, let me come back."

"You're all I have, Fabian."

Fabian watched her, and something in his eyes softened, unwilling to see her like this.

He turned to me, his tone impatient, with an edge of anger in it.

"Winona, Athena has already begged you. What more do you want?"

Athena couldn't hide the challenge and the smugness in her eyes.

But Fabian saw none of it.

Two years, and they counted for nothing against the single moment she came back.

I looked at him, my chest full of disappointment and something bitter.

"Fabian, forget it."

With that, I turned and walked away.

Athena tried to come after me and grab my arm, but Fabian caught her by the elbow.

“Athena, don't beg her.”

“I've already given her plenty of face, and she's still putting on this act.”

“I'm the one who spoiled her. Let her cool off on her own.”

“Don't worry. As long as I'm here, no one would dare touch you.”

My steps didn't slow. I went straight upstairs.

The bedroom that used to feel warm now made it hard to breathe.

Our wedding photo still hung on the wall.

The woman in it had smiled so sweetly back then. Now that smile just looked ridiculous.

Tears ran down my cheeks without a sound.

I covered my face and slid down to the floor.

After I married Fabian back then, I completed the mission. The target was won.

The System had given me two choices.

Leave with the ten-million bonus, or choose to stay in this world.

At the wedding, the way Fabian promised me, so focused, so full of feeling, moved my heart.

Under a sky full of fireworks, I threw myself crying into his arms and chose to stay.

I'd worked on winning Fabian over for so long. Even if it started out as a mission, somewhere along the way it became real.

I truly wanted to spend my whole life with him.

......

Just then the door was pushed open, and Fabian walked in.

He rubbed the space between his brows, looking at me with exhaustion.

“Winona, you shouldn't have acted like that just now.”

“Athena has nowhere to go now. Stop pushing her.”

He came closer, meaning to pull me into his arms.

I quietly moved aside.

“Fabian, do you still remember what I told you on our wedding day?”

“If you don't treasure me, I'll leave.”

His body went stiff, and he stared at me as if he couldn't believe it.

“Winona, you're an orphan. Where could you even go if you left me?”

“Besides, you're my wife. You went through so much to marry me, and now we even have a child.”

“Stop making a scene. You could never bear to leave.”

He smiled the way he always did and reached out to ruffle my hair.

I turned my head away, a sneer on my face.

You see, he knew everything.

He hurt me without a shred of restraint precisely because he was certain I would never leave.

Watching me, Fabian drew his hand back, his expression turning cold.

“Winona Sanders, so now you'll use these kinds of threats too, just to drive Athena out?”

“Don't forget, everything you have now, this life of silk and comfort, the name of Mrs. Delgado, I'm the one who gave it all to you!”

“What more could you want?”

He turned and left, and the slam of the door echoed through the room.

My chest felt like it was being gripped by a huge hand, aching in tight, wringing pulls.

So in Fabian's eyes, all of it was a gift he'd bestowed?

But it was me who stayed by his side while he built everything from nothing, who made the Delgado Group into what it is today.

He didn't even know that the reason the Delgado Group stood at the front of the industry, crushing every other company,

those patents he was so proud of, I was the one who begged the System to bring them to him!

It was all so absurd.

My heart was completely dead.

Firmly, I spoke to the System.

“I want to leave.”

“I don't want Fabian anymore.”

“I don't want the child either.”

The System answered coldly.

“In three days, the host may leave.”

“At that time, the host may choose her own method of departure.”

“Good.”