Chapter 493: His Girlfriend’s Fist Hardened

By the time Ron Cole and his team found her child at the orphanage, following a lead from Arabella Donovan, Claire Bishop had already found a new mark. She had reinvented herself as a poor, pitiful girl betrayed by a scumbag and was living in a rental unit, rent-free, provided by a wealthy second-generation landlord with a soft spot for women in distress.

The police arrested her for child abandonment right away, and not long after…

“She’s definitely experiencing something similar to what happened with Summer Vance.”

Hearing Ron Cole say this, Arabella Donovan’s heart sank. “So, what’s her condition now? Is she…”

“We don’t know the specifics of what the voice told her, but after she was detained…” Ron Cole pointed to his own head. “It’s like she’s not all there. She just keeps muttering and giggling to herself, saying she’s the protagonist and that everyone should bend to her will, spoil her, and make sure she lives a good life…”

Arabella Donovan was speechless. ‘Just from that, I can pretty much guess what the voice told her.’

‘But the Providence, the mastermind pulling the strings, probably never expected its hand-picked ‘Child of Destiny’ to be so fragile. She went completely mad just from finding out about the life that had been originally arranged for her!’

‘In any case, given her condition, she’s no longer a threat. The child abandonment charge will be enough to keep her out of trouble for good.’

Next was the matter of Arthur Rexford, the protagonist connected to her second brother.

Arabella had learned about him from Caspian Rhodes. It turned out that after happening to learn of the man’s existence from Arabella, Caspian had found a pretext to transfer him out of state for advanced training, transforming him from a pitiful film extra into an elite member of a production crew.

“I’m in a good position to speak on his transformation. After he left Jarden, it was as if a switch flipped in his brain. He started learning things quickly, and he’s a hard worker. In just one year, he climbed to a mid-to-senior management position. He even tried his hand at directing a short web series, and it was well-received. After he transferred to the branch office, he also met a girl he’s really into. They were in that flirty, will-they-won’t-they stage for a few months before finally making things official, and now they’re in the honeymoon phase. You could say that once he left the ‘main battlefield,’ his luck completely turned around. His career and love life are both blossoming. He’s really riding high.”

Arabella’s interest was piqued. “So what has he been up to lately…?”

“That’s where it gets interesting. The other day, he suddenly started asking around for a master to perform an exorcism.”

“An exorcism?” Arabella blinked in surprise. ‘Well now, don’t tell me the former protagonist, Arthur Rexford, mistook the voice trying to tempt him for some wandering ghost or demon, did he?’

The realization made Arabella immensely amused, and she grew even more curious about his situation.

“So what happened? Did he find someone to help with the exorcism?”

“Well, he was already under close observation by the relevant departments, and this move was strange enough that it immediately caught their attention. And then…”

“And then?”

“And then, somehow or other, he worked his way through a chain of contacts and got in touch with Solara, asking if you might be free to go and perform an exorcism for him.”

Arabella: “???” ‘Hold on, how did this end up circling back to me?’

“So, the people over there… they don’t actually expect me to go take a look at him, do they?”

‘I might know what’s happening to him, but I have no clue how to fix it! If I did, I would’ve dealt with Summer Vance’s situation back then. He wouldn’t be the one ending up as the first guinea pig.’

“That won’t be necessary.”

“It won’t?”

“Mm-hmm. I already told Solara about Arthur’s situation—you know, about his original storyline that you mentioned. I brought it up after I realized he could hear your thoughts, too, and I didn’t hide what happened on your end. So as soon as this new development occurred, Solara eagerly scampered over to watch the drama unfold.”

Of course, he was watching this drama unfold under the protection of the informants and bodyguards assigned to tail our protagonist, Arthur Rexford.

Caspian’s words only made Arabella more curious. “What kind of… drama are we talking about?”

“You know his original character archetype was a Gary Stu, an overpowered protagonist. That means his road to success was supposed to be littered with beautiful female admirers, the Willow River types…”

A glint appeared in Arabella’s eyes as she immediately caught Caspian’s meaning. “Don’t tell me the voice tried to use a honey trap on him?”

“That’s exactly it. The voice tried to tempt him, promising that if he just did as it said and forced the plot back onto its original tracks, he’d have countless beauties throwing themselves into his arms…”

“And was he tempted?”

“I don’t know if *he* was tempted, but I do know his girlfriend’s fists were.”

Arabella: “???”

“His girlfriend also works at that branch office. She’d taken a half-day off and came by, only to overhear her boyfriend arguing with thin air. The gist of the argument was the voice trying to entice him with beautiful women, and him retorting that he would only ever love his girlfriend and wouldn’t spare a glance for anyone else. When the voice saw the honey trap wasn’t working, it probably pivoted to promising him a soaring career and a life at the top. But he still didn’t take the bait, and even shot back that this was exactly how ‘pig-butchering’ scams operate.”

“Pfft…” Arabella burst out laughing. ‘I really never expected this Gary Stu protagonist to be so refreshingly level-headed. It seems that once you pull people out of the predetermined plots arranged by the so-called Providence, they actually grow a brain.’

The people who had “grown brains”: “…” *We feel personally attacked.*

“Anyway, long story short, he was completely immune to it. He was convinced this thing trying to corrupt his moral compass was bad news, and that it might have even been sent by an enemy from a past life specifically to ruin his perfect relationship with his girlfriend and make him regret it forever.”

“Pfft… Are you serious?!” Arabella was beside herself with laughter.

“It’s all true. At first, his girlfriend didn’t know what was going on. Hearing him argue back, she thought he was fighting with his own inner demons… although, technically, you could say that’s exactly what he was doing.”

“Basically, she heard his denials and thought it was just a pathetic attempt to cover up his true desires with sweet talk. She figured that deep down he was dying to have a woman on each arm, and she got so mad she beat him up right then and there.”

Arabella felt a brief but intense wave of sympathy for the guy, though it didn’t stop her from wanting to hear the rest of the juicy story. “And then what? Did they clear up the misunderstanding? It would be a terrible injustice if he lost his girlfriend over that!”

“According to what Solara told me, after getting beaten up, the guy didn’t even have time to get mad. He just latched onto the leg of his furious girlfriend as she was trying to leave, swearing oaths and crying about how wronged he was—a total mess of snot and tears. In the end, Solara had to step in personally and explain the whole situation to clear up the misunderstanding and get them to reconcile.”

When Caspian finished his story, he looked up and was met with an indescribable expression on Arabella’s face.

“What is it?”

“Nothing. I just realized there’s a saying that’s absolutely true.”

“What saying?”

“That a man being hopelessly love-struck is truly the best dowry he can offer.”

“Pfft…”