Elara’s POV

"You’re nothing but a pathetic, powerless woman, and you still have the audacity to refuse ending this marriage contract? Do I need to have someone eliminate you permanently before you finally understand?!"

The towering man growled menacingly before violently pushing me forward. I lost my footing entirely and slammed into the table behind me. An ear-splitting crash echoed as the glass surface exploded into countless shards across the floor.

The animated conversations in the elegant ballroom ceased immediately. Every set of eyes turned toward me as I lay crumpled on the ground.

"Wait, isn’t that the eldest Sterling girl? Why is she being thrown to the floor?"

"Her? She’s no longer part of the Sterling family. She’s just a powerless, useless woman—cast out months ago. Now she’s practically a street beggar."

Mocking sneers and disdainful chuckles swept through the crowd of onlookers...

Upon hearing the whispers, the towering man’s mouth twisted into a satisfied smirk. He crouched down, seized my chin brutally, and dropped his voice to a threatening hiss. "You hear that? Ending your life right now would be simpler than crushing an insect. So I believe you understand precisely what you must do, don’t you?"

Hold on! What the fuck?

Where the hell am I? What’s happening?

My skull was throbbing. Forced to gaze upward, I found myself locked onto the face hovering above me. Seconds later, a warm, wet stream of crimson blood trickled down my forehead...

"Which bastard struck me?!"

I bellowed, launching myself upward in pure fury. But before I could stabilize myself, a surge of lightheadedness hit me, sending the room into a tailspin. I clutched my forehead, fighting to break free from the man’s grasp. The next instant, a torrent of foreign memories flooded my consciousness like a tsunami...

Did I actually just get transported into another world?!

One moment I was fighting zombies, and I died just like that?

And now I’m here?

The previous owner of this body was also called Elara. She’d been the firstborn daughter of an aristocratic family in the Valerion Empire, spanning multiple star systems. But due to her lack of spiritual abilities, she’d been expelled from the family months prior. The three beast-husbands she’d essentially coerced into marriage had all fallen for her cousin instead. They loathed the original owner for being spiritually worthless and demanded to dissolve the marriage contract!

To prevent the divorce, the original owner had spent the past months acting like a complete lovesick idiot over these three losers. She’d emptied every last credit from her accounts trying to satisfy them. And the moment her funds dried up, they abandoned all pretense and rushed straight into the embrace of her cousin, Beatrix Greeley—an S-class spiritual power female.

What a pack of total scumbags!

There was an old saying from the apocalypse: in any battle, the lovestruck ones always died first. Nothing could be more accurate.

"Did you just swear at me?" Thorne Blackwood’s voice dropped to a menacing whisper. He’d anticipated me to continue pleading like I always had—apparently the charade was finally finished?

"So you’re the one who struck me, right?"

I twisted my lip, responding with my own question. I wiped the blood from my face with my hand’s back. Before Thorne could utter another syllable, I pulled back and delivered a sharp slap across his face.

"You’re nothing but garbage. Even if I lack spiritual power, I’m still a noble-born female. Who the hell do you think you are to put your hands on me?"

Damn!

The crowd exploded.

"What’s going on? The lovesick Sterling girl actually just defended herself? Didn’t she idolize Thorne? She even spent a fortune on an energy necklace for Beatrix just to win his favor..."

Hearing the murmurs circulating around me, I couldn’t suppress a sharp, icy laugh.

"You little—"

Slap! Slap! Slap!

Before he could complete the phrase "you little bitch," three more burning slaps crashed across his face.

Right there before everyone, Thorne had been slapped repeatedly. Shame coursed through him, and he prepared to retaliate—until his system’s warning alarm sounded. He stopped, then reluctantly retreated.

"You may only speak when I permit you to."

I adapted rapidly. I slipped into the character like it was second nature. The original owner hadn’t divorced these three yet, and that marriage contract served as my protection. They wouldn’t actually dare murder me—the system would erase them from existence the instant they attempted it.

That’s why I could vent my anger even while still recuperating.

Besides, this guy wasn’t even attractive. Had the original owner completely lost her mind?

Obsessing over a weakling like this?

Did she have absolutely no dignity?

In this world I’d arrived in, the male-to-female ratio was 1:1000. And the original owner was pursuing this pathetic specimen?

This guy would probably injure his back just climbing out of bed.

Christ, the original owner had been so foolish.

Selecting trash from the dumpster and calling it a feast.

"Divorce! We are absolutely getting divorced!!!"

Thorne blinked, momentarily confused by my sudden eagerness to divorce. But a moment later, the arrogant smile returned to his face. I’d performed this act before—storming away, only to return groveling with credits and crystals to win them back.

But I didn’t have any credits remaining now, did I? And once I divorced all three of them, a useless female like me would be paired with the lowest-ranked soldiers available. The thought made him straighten up. He puffed out his chest and snorted coldly. "If you don’t want the divorce, fine. Just kneel and apologize. I might consider pardoning you."

I drove my knee into Thorne’s stomach and launched him backward.

This is such fucking bullshit! I can’t stand it anymore!

"I already said we’re getting divorced. Are you deaf?"

Before anyone could react, I had already accessed my system and submitted the request. The instant the divorce application processed, the system marked it as a female-initiated dissolution and automatically approved it.

Efficient. Convenient. Finished.

"Wait... they’re... divorced already?"

"Hold on—Thorne and Vance are both A-class males. How could a useless, powerless female just willingly release such high-tier matches?"

Thorne never anticipated it. He stared at the fading mark of the marriage contract on his skin, a strange mixture of relief and... something else churning in his chest.

The other two husbands arrived just in time to witness it happen. I had actually divorced them. Beatrix followed right behind them.

Everyone was still recovering from my earlier explosion when another bombshell hit.

Just like the original owner, Beatrix was entangled in this mess too...

What kind of sane person spends that much time around her cousin’s husbands?

A refined blonde stepped forward, face painted with worry, and helped Thorne up from the floor. Then she turned to me, her expression shifting into something disapproving. "Elara, you’re still so stubborn. As a female with no spiritual power, what’s wrong with swallowing your pride occasionally? Thorne’s a male—how’s he supposed to maintain his dignity after you humiliated him like this publicly?"

What the actual fuck?

Is this woman insane?!

"If you’re ill, go see a doctor. These three morons are all yours now. You’re welcome to them." I shot back, already moving forward. Vance and Jasper immediately tensed, powers blazing as they stepped defensively in front of Beatrix. They thought I was going to assault her.

Now that the marriage contract was dissolved, if I wanted to die that desperately, they’d be delighted to assist. Going to prison for Beatrix? Small sacrifice.

But I simply reached out, grabbed the necklace around Beatrix’s neck, and ripped it away. "This belongs to me. I’m reclaiming it. That’s reasonable, right?"

The moment those words escaped my lips, the mechanical voice of the partner-matching system echoed throughout the ballroom. The system focused on its target: me. The same me who had just completed her divorce.

"New marriage partner assigned. Transferring profile now..."

A brilliant blue panel materialized and hovered in the air. The entire room fell completely silent.

Nobody had anticipated this—a useless, powerless female receiving a new marriage partner assignment the exact second her previous one ended.

Silence.

Complete, suffocating silence.

And then the first marriage partner’s profile materialized on the panel.

The collective intake of breath that followed nearly drained all oxygen from the room.