Surviving In This Filthy World As A Novel Villain

Chapter 221: Clara

“Ah!”

Clara instantly panicked again. She hurriedly started messaging her aunt back, her hands trembling as she typed: “Auntie, where are you??”

“I’ll come up in a bit.” Seeing her aunt’s reply, Clara’s mind went completely blank, buzzing with confusion.

What does ‘be up in a bit’ mean? And what did she mean by ‘he’ll be right up’?

No, Auntie, don’t do this, I’m scared!

At this moment, Clara suddenly felt like she’d been tricked. It was like leaving home for the first time, tagging along with the person she trusted most, only to arrive at the destination and find that person had vanished.

That big a living person, gone!

Clara was truly panicking now. This wasn’t like the blind dates she’d imagined or seen in short videos.

Aren’t blind dates supposed to happen in coffee shops or restaurants? What’s with having one in a hotel?

“Auntie, come quick, I’m scared.” Clara even felt the urge to run away.

“What are you afraid of? He won’t eat you. It’s just so you two can meet and get to know each other. If I’m there, it might affect your conversation.”

Just as Clara was about to type something else, a knock sounded at the door.

After hesitating for a moment, Clara decided to open it anyway.

“What’s the big deal? It’s just a blind date! Compared to marrying a psycho, meeting a strange man in a hotel room isn’t completely unacceptable…”

Repeating this to herself, trying to brainwash herself, Clara put on her shoes and opened the door.

She wore a thin, light purple strap dress, her hair casually draped over her back. She wasn’t wearing stockings, leaving her pale legs bare. Her eyes shone with purple contacts. When she opened the door and saw the face of the person standing there, she gasped, “You’re Alex?”

Auntie was right. He really is handsome. Not just normally handsome either.

She’d seen plenty of good-looking guys over the years, all sorts of different types. But this was the first time she’d been so stunned by someone’s looks at first glance that she just froze.

Looking at Alex’s face, Clara’s nervousness instantly eased quite a bit. Any resistance she felt vanished completely.

Having a blind date with someone handsome just made it much easier to accept.

“And you are…?” Alex pretended not to know her.

Huh? Didn’t Auntie tell you about me?

Clara froze for a second, then quickly introduced herself. “My name is Clara. I’m twenty-two, just graduated from college this year. Ashley Dawson is my aunt…”

Alex didn’t really hear the rest. As soon as he heard her name, he paused.

Clara? The female lead from Dawson family?

This is her?

This time, Alex was genuinely stunned.

Ashley had mentioned her niece was coming along and wanted to introduce them.

Alex hadn’t thought much of it, certainly hadn’t connected it to the female lead.

Because according to the usual urban webnovel tropes, the female lead in an arranged marriage plot usually has a very tense relationship with her family – if not openly hostile, then definitely not good.

If it wasn’t like that, how could the story create drama and face-slapping moments for the protagonist?

Based on that, Alex had completely dismissed the idea that the niece Ashley mentioned was the actual female lead from the Dawson family.

Pushing down his shock, Alex finally took a proper look at the female lead from Magic City.

Like Sera, she was clearly someone who grew up pampered, born with a silver spoon in her mouth.

But they had many differences too. Although Sera was from a wealthy family, she didn’t care much about material things. She even hid her identity at school, dressing and eating like any ordinary person.

Clara, however, was different. Even though her outfit was simple and not overly flashy, her strap dress was from a foreign luxury brand. The necklace around her neck and the studs in her ears were high-end custom pieces. Even her bracelet was from a niche luxury brand from West Asia.

Although they were all luxury items, they were mostly lesser-known brands, and the accessories were paired skillfully with her clothes.

From head to toe, she radiated an aura of “I’m rich, and I have taste.”

Especially the purple contact lenses.

Hiss!

They say purple has the most flavor… the internet wasn’t lying.

After they sat down, Alex started smoothly, “I heard about your situation from your aunt.”

Clara sat down on the sofa next to him, blinking her big purple eyes. Her legs were pressed together neatly as she asked curiously, “What did my aunt tell you?”

“She said you two are the closest in the whole Dawson family, that you share many things,” Alex hinted suggestively, though Clara didn’t catch the underlying meaning.

“Oh, oh.” Clara nodded with a smile. Ashley was right about that part.

Since there was only a ten-year age gap between the aunt and niece, Clara had always loved tagging along behind Ashley since she was little. She especially liked using Ashley’s things – from dolls in her bedroom when she was small, to makeup, shoes, and bags when she grew up.

For some reason, other people’s things always seemed better, smelled nicer. Even if it was the exact same item, she’d somehow feel her aunt’s version looked better.

Taking a sip of the water Clara poured for him, Alex continued, “Your aunt also told me about your engagement.”

At the mention of the engagement, Clara immediately looked uncomfortable, her expression visibly darkening.

“She told me you really dislike this engagement that your elders arranged for you when you were very young.”

Saying this, Alex turned his head slightly, meeting Clara’s gaze, which clearly said, ‘You’re so right! You understand me!’He smiled faintly and went on, “Modern society is about mutual feelings. Arranged marriages are a thing of the past generation.”

“Exactly! Exactly!” Clara nodded vigorously.

But Grandpa is so stubborn; he doesn’t understand my feelings at all.

“Have you talked to your grandfather about the engagement?” Alex asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yes,” Clara’s mood dropped. “But Grandpa won’t listen to me. He just says I’m still young and don’t understand things. He says everything he does is for my own good.”

She paused, then pouted. “Grandpa is just an old stick-in-the-mud, clinging to his outdated ideas. He doesn’t consider my feelings at all, never asks if I’m willing.”

She had brought up the engagement with her grandfather many times, but it was always useless. Especially after hearing from her aunt that the man she was engaged to had been locked up for causing trouble in a hospital.

She had gone to her grandfather again then, trying to be firm. But her usually doting grandfather had actually flown into a rage, even looking like he might hit her.

This made Clara feel wronged and very confused. Is an old marriage agreement really more important than his granddaughter’s happiness?

Clara truly didn’t understand.

If it were a marriage alliance for business with one of the other major families in Magic City, she could maybe understand it. She’d seen plenty of those growing up and wasn’t completely against the idea.

But who the heck was this Eric Vaughn?!

It wasn’t for business, so why was her grandfather so fixated on this marriage agreement that went against his granddaughter’s wishes?

“Have you ever considered something?” Alex leaned forward slightly, a small smile playing on his lips.

“What?”

“It’s not that your grandfather hasn’t considered your feelings, or that he doesn’t know you disagree – that you strongly oppose this engagement. It’s that… maybe he simply doesn’t care about your feelings at all.” Alex’s voice was like a devil’s whisper from hell, strangely persuasive.

“He knows. But he doesn’t care.”

Boom!

Clara froze on the spot, looking flustered and unsure what to do.

She had considered this possibility before, but she hadn’t wanted to accept it.

After all, she wasn’t a naive little girl anymore.

[The Female Lead ‘Clara’ had a Mental Breakdown. Congratulations, you have earned 1000 Critical Points.]

Clara’s face turned deathly pale. Her small hands nervously twisted the hem of her dress. The strap dress was already short, barely covering her thighs while sitting. As she unconsciously crumpled the fabric, the edge of the skirt slowly crept upwards, revealing a mysterious zone underneath.

Heh, purple there too.

“This is just my guess, maybe I’m wrong,” Alex added, acting like a gentleman offering comfort after receiving the Critical Points.

He had truly mastered the art of playing both sides.

Clara shook her head, looking down, her spirits low. “You’re right. In Grandpa’s eyes, there’s only the family, only money.”

Alex said calmly, “You’re wrong about that.”

Clara looked up, confused. “No? Grandpa really doesn’t consider my feelings. All he cares about is the long-term prosperity of the family business.”

Alex shook his head again. “If your grandfather is truly determined about this marriage, then he doesn’t care about the family either. He cares about himself.”

“Ah!”

This completely threw Clara off. “What do you mean?”