Overlord (LN) - Chapter 17 - Volume 3

Ethan Blackwood wasn’t used to being defied. As the CEO of a global empire, he crushed obstacles with a single glance. But when Lily Anderson stood before him, her chin lifted in quiet defiance, and something in him snapped. “Sign the contract,” he said, his voice like ice. “30 days. You’ll obey every command. After that, you’re free.”She hesitated, her fingers trembling as she gripped the pen. “And if I refuse?”His smirk was cold, but his eyes burned. “Then you’ll spend the rest of your life paying off your father’s debts. Your choice.”Trapped, Lily signed. But she vowed one thing: she wouldn’t let him break her.From the first day, their clash was electric. He demanded perfection; she gave him rebellion. “You think you can control me?” she spat, after he criticized her for being late.Ethan stepped closer, his presence overwhelming. “I don’t just control you. Lily, I own you.”But as the days passed, the lines between them blurred. Late nights in his penthouse turned into whispered conversations. His cold demeanor cracked, revealing glimpses of a man haunted by his past. One night, after a heated argument, he pinned her against the wall, his breath hot against her ear. “Why do you fight me so much?”Her voice trembled. “Because I’m afraid if I stop, I’ll lose myself to you.”Their connection deepened, but danger loomed. Secrets from Ethan’s past resurfaced, threatening to destroy everything. When Lily discovered the truth behind his obsession with her, she confronted him. “Was I just a pawn in your game? A way to settle an old score?”His eyes darkened with pain. “You were never just a game, Lily. You’re the only thing that’s ever felt real.”As the final days of their contract approached, their bond was tested like never before. Enemies closed in, and trust hung by a thread. Could they overcome the shadows of their pasts, or would their love crumble under the weight of secrets and pride?

“So, Diana, what's your excuse for betraying me?”

His amber glinted eyes bore into the woman with bloodied, broken blue hair, kneeling in complete disarray.

“... you're evil.”

“Oh, so, looking out for all of you makes me evil?”

The man narrowed his eyes, contemplating the echoes of protagonist halos and heroines' mentality, starkly real now.

Coming from a world far removed from such grim reality, he had read about these personalities in novels, but experiencing their shortcomings firsthand was a different story.

“How am I evil?”

He looked down at his foot where a young man, limbless and crushed, lay in a state of complete brokenness, mustering the little strength he had left to utter some words.

“... y.. you ba..stard, You killed millions.”

Hearing these words, the man's internal amusement grew at the absurdity of these hypocritical people.

He had eradicated all the evil organizations within the Empire after ascending to his throne.

Wars were waged to crush rebellious kingdoms that stood against his Empire, uniting the entire Heidal Continent under one flag—the Selvius Empire.

He shifted his gaze towards another woman with pink hair, her body completely broken, supported by a rock to maintain a semblance of balance amidst the devastation.

“Hmm, so what about you, Karina? Wasn't your family about to be executed by the Aidiac Royal family? Is it wrong for me to have intervened?”

“You killed them without mercy, and although you saved my family, it was not worth it.”

“I just saved—”

“It's bullshit. You could have solved everything peacefully without drawing so much blood.”

Hearing all this, the man began to understand why those novels depicted these people as hypocritical and low in intelligence.

If he hadn't saved them, they would have suffered the most gruesome fate.

Yet, despite being saved, these ungrateful individuals chose to blame him. The bitter irony of their ingratitude gnawed at him, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

“Guess you all have the same reasons.”

The man looked towards the seven people, their disdainful gazes directed at him.

He had only aimed to change their fates, to rescue some from slavery, others from crippling circumstances, and a few from inevitable betrayal.

Yet, they all blamed him for saving them, unable to comprehend that he had severed the root causes that would have subjected them to excruciating suffering.

“Hahaha.”

“Indeed, now I see.”

He now understood what those novels had tried to convey—'these idiots think this whole world works like they think it would.'

'System.........

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