Perhaps because it was a Saturday, the traffic was terrible.
Upon arriving, Mia Grant subconsciously scanned the crowd for a familiar face.
It was supposed to be her funeral, yet she didn't recognize a single person in the crowd.
Suddenly, her gaze froze.
"Who are you looking for?"
Mia Grant clutched Kian Keller's arm. Her survival instincts kicking in, she leaned against him, putting on an act of being terrified.
"I think... I saw my sister..."
'Who else could that girl standing by the door be, if not the original female protagonist?'
"Maybe... I shouldn't go in?"
Suddenly, she didn't want to go in anymore.
She didn't want to cross paths with the original protagonist just yet.
"We'll just go in and make an appearance, then we'll leave." Kian Keller paused, his gaze lowered. "Don't you want to use this opportunity to see their reactions?"
"..."
"They look so sad."
She hesitated.
Seeing her hesitation, Kian Keller said, "We're already here."
Mia Grant squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. "Let's go!"
'As expected,' she thought. 'It's an unbeatable argument.'
"Kian?"
The moment Kian Keller stepped out of the car, Serena Grant spotted him in the crowd instantly.
The man was tall and slender, standing out starkly from the crowd. It was as if he were surrounded by a divine aura, making him impossible to ignore.
Kian Keller gave a low hum of acknowledgment.
Just as Serena Grant was about to speak, she caught sight of the person beside him.
The woman wore a formal hat and a black dress accented with a pearl belt, which made her waist look so slender it seemed it might snap with a single touch.
She lowered her gaze, trying to get a look at the woman's face beneath the hat's brim, only to find it mostly obscured by a black mask.
'From a distance, you could barely tell if she was human!'
When she saw the string of Buddha Beads wrapped around the woman's wrist, Serena Grant's pupils constricted. "Kian, who is this?"
She had never seen Kian Keller with an unfamiliar woman before, especially not one intimate enough to... touch his Buddha Beads!
He was a severe germaphobe, to a pathological degree. He never allowed women to get close to him, much less touch his personal belongings.
Just last week, during dinner, she had accidentally used his teacup. That very night, she heard from her eldest brother that Kian Keller had smashed the entire expensive glass tea set to pieces.
In an instant, a million possibilities flashed through Serena Grant's mind.
She stared intently at Kian Keller, biting her lower lip in distress.
Noticing her reaction, Mia Grant tightened her grip on Kian Keller's arm, deliberately snuggling closer to him.
'Hmph.'
'She knew it. Serena Grant had a crush on Kian Keller.'
A lock of hair escaped from her updo, brushing gently against his coat as it fell beside her temple. The unique scent of jasmine, hers alone, filled his senses.
Products with such a floral scent had never been in his house before. But ever since she started staying over from time to time, the scent of jasmine had slowly begun to fill not just her bedroom, but the entire courtyard as well.
Kian Keller was lost in thought for a moment, only snapping out of it when he felt the girl beside him tilt her head up and glare at him with dissatisfaction.
Only then did he snap back to reality. He lifted his gaze to the person across from them. "What did you just say?"
"..." Serena Grant's breath hitched.
Mia Grant blinked. 'Ah, thank you,' she thought. 'That was so satisfying!'
Clearing her throat, she fought back a smile, rising onto her tiptoes to repeat in his ear, "She asked you who I am~"
Kian Keller glanced sideways, his eyes meeting hers.
Mia Grant blinked again, feigning innocence.
He calmly drew his gaze back and said coolly, "My fiancée."
"?"
"!"
The two girls standing opposite each other were both stunned into silence by his answer.
Kian Keller ignored Serena Grant, hooking an arm around the still-frozen Mia Grant and leading her inside.
Mia Grant's brain blue-screened. Thankfully, the system appeared just in time to save her precarious, smoke-billowing CPU.
"He just blatantly announced he has a fiancée. Isn't he afraid Silas Grant and the others will investigate and find out it's me?"
"Silas Grant is so smart; he'll definitely start investigating as soon as he hears."
"When that happens... how could we possibly keep it a secret?"
Of course, she wanted Silas Grant to find her, but she was also worried Kian Keller was secretly scheming.
"Don't tell me... he doesn't know about Silas Grant and me...?" Mia Grant clung to a sliver of hope.
The system doused her hopes with a bucket of cold water. [Host, he's crazy, not stupid.]
"..."
"Then what's his angle?"
[Maybe he thinks that even if Silas Grant has feelings for you, he wouldn't dare act on them. After all, you're technically still brother and sister.]
[Even though you're 'dead' now, you're still a Grant by name.]
[As for the other male leads, he doesn't know them well and has probably never considered them a threat.]
"So, if... and this is just a hypothetical, you know."
"If this whole 'he chases, I run' thing continues, and I still can't escape, what's his next move? Will he arrange a new identity for me, making 'Mia Grant' disappear from the world for good?"
"Then get engaged to me, maybe even marry me? And pop out eight kids at once?"
[Congratulations, Host. You've finally figured out Kian Keller's plan.]
"So, if I really do get engaged to him, does that mean the other male leads will..." Mia sucked in a sharp breath.
Just imagining the consequences made Mia Grant's temples begin to throb.
'It's over. It's so over.'
[Yes, just as you suspect. The other male leads will completely blacken.]
[And before the world collapses, they will definitely kill you two, the happy newlyweds.]
[Then they'll bury one of you on the east side of the city, and the other in... Afrion.]
"..." 'Men can be so vicious,' she thought.
[So, Host, you absolutely must seize today's opportunity.]
Mia Grant rallied her spirits. The moment she was inside, she began to discreetly search for Silas Grant.
But even by the time the funeral started, Silas Grant had yet to appear.
'What the hell?'
'Silas Grant went out of his way to invite Kian Keller, but he didn't even show up himself?'
It would be a lie to say she wasn't disappointed.
Serena Grant came to her funeral, but Silas... he didn't.
"My eldest brother? He's quite busy. He had work in Portia and left the day before yesterday. He won't be back until next week."
"Yes, yes, the company is more important, of course. No need to bother him with such a small matter. Mom, Dad, and I are here, and that's enough."
The sound of Serena Grant chatting with guests drifted to her ears, followed by her parents discussing business partnerships with others.
No one cared who had died.
No one remembered that this was the funeral of an eighteen-year-old girl.
Mia Grant stood in a corner, watching with cold eyes.
Kian Keller stood silently beside her, seeming to have anticipated this all along.
Noticing the Grant parents walking over to fawn over Kian Keller, Mia Grant turned her head away in disgust. "I'm going to the restroom."
After leaving Kian Keller's side, Mia Grant looked for a place to get some fresh air.
There were several lounges for guests. A few were locked from the inside, but the door to the last one was ajar...
She walked over and gently pushed the door open. As soon as she stepped one foot inside, she saw a tall figure standing by the window, back to the door, silhouetted by the light.
"Oh, excuse me, I didn't know anyone was in..."
As she spoke, the person turned around.
Mia Grant's eyes flew wide open.