Born Into Villain's Family: I Have a 200\% Rebate System-Chapter 161: Adeline’s Gratitude

Her forehead touched the ground.

"Thank you," she whispered. "Miss Dawn... thank you so much."

Aurora’s eyes widened.

"Adeline, what are you—?"

"I swear my life to you," Adeline said, still on the ground. Her voice shook.

"From now on, I will do anything you say. I will be your shadow. Your sword. Your shield. Whatever you want. I’ll never betray you."

Tears slipped down her cheeks, but she didn’t wipe them. She didn’t care.

Aurora stood up quickly, looking almost a little stunned herself. She hadn’t expected this. A promise, yes.

Loyalty, yes. But this girl was kneeling? On the cold, hard floor?

"Adeline," she said, gently but firmly, "Get up."

But Adeline didn’t move.

"I’m serious," Aurora said again, stepping forward. "You don’t have to kneel to me. I’m not a queen."

"To me, you are," Adeline whispered.

Aurora paused.

Her chest felt strangely tight.

She had thought this would feel good... this control, this loyalty. And it did. But seeing Adeline cry like this... swearing herself like this... it felt different.

More real.

More human.

Aurora slowly crouched down and reached out a hand. She touched Adeline’s shoulder gently and said,

"Alright. Then it’s my order, stop it."

Adeline froze. Her whole body was shaking, but she stopped crying for a second.

She slowly lifted her head, eyes red and wet. Her face looked confused.

"...Huh?"

Aurora gave a small smile. It wasn’t a cold or fake smile like the ones she usually gave. This one was warm... real.

"I said that’s an order," Aurora repeated, her voice soft but clear. "If you really swear your life to me, then listen to me. And I’m telling you—get up."

Adeline blinked. Her lips trembled.

Aurora’s hand was still on her shoulder. It was warm. Firm. Like an anchor holding her in place.

"You don’t need to kneel," Aurora said. "Not to me. Not to anyone."

Adeline slowly pushed herself up, still shaky. Her knees hurt, and her hands felt cold, but she listened.

She sat back on her heels, looking up at Aurora like she was looking at the moon.

"I just... I didn’t know what else to do," Adeline whispered. "No one’s ever helped me like this. Not my mom, not my dad, not even Henry when we were together."

Aurora sat down beside her.

"I know," she said quietly. "But things are different now. I’m not like them. I don’t help people so they can bow to me."

Especially since...she learned something new today...

She was seeing Adeline through the filter of the dream. Villainous from her perspective because Mary and Lucas died.

Aurora refused to believe that her family was villainous and justified their action, because she knew her family members were pure at heart. frёeωebɳovel.com

She blamed everything on fate.

But what if she saw everything from Adeline’s perspective?

A woman betrayed and burdened by the word ’responsibility’

She struggled every day for her family. Just like Aurora...

Maybe if she wasn’t the female lead...Aurora might have ignored her all along.

Even she didn’t know that she was the female lead...like Alex...

They just retaliate against people who hurt them. Their only mistake was not knowing they were part of someone else’s story.

Not knowing...that everything might have been a misunderstanding all along...

For Aurora, it was the female and male leads who were wrong, because they killed her family.

For the female and male leads, it was the Waters family who were wrong, because they repeatedly harmed the female and male leads.

Then, who was wrong and who was right?

Aurora stared at the floor for a moment, her thoughts spinning.

The meeting with Adeline passed in a blur. After she left, Aurora remained motionless for a long while.

Emily softly asked,

"Aurora, why are you so good to her?"

Aurora came back to her senses, and the answer that she was trying to get.

The right and wrong depend on perspective.

For her, her family was right. She had built and helped Adeline purely because she was selfish and wanted a backup plan.

What if in the future, even after her intervention, the plot still remained the same?

Then...Adeline would still forgive Lucas or Mary because of the kindness Aurora was showing to her now.

"A future investment," Aurora said with a smile.

............

In an abandoned warehouse.

Mandy walked in fearfully and looked around.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

A voice answered from the shadows.

"You’re late."

Mandy jumped. Her hands clutched the straps of her bag tightly. "The car broke down," she stammered. "I had to make sure no one followed me."

A black mask figure wearing entirely black clothes came out.

She motioned for Mandy to sit on the chair and said,

"If you don’t want the school authorities to know you are doing drugs, just sit in that chair."

Mandy’s face went pale.

"I-I’m not doing drugs!" she whispered, panicking. "I swear, I’m not!"

The masked figure didn’t move. Her voice was calm but scary.

"Then you have nothing to worry about, right? Just sit."

Mandy looked around. The warehouse was cold and dark.

The only light came from a small lamp on the table. The chair looked old and dusty, but she sat down anyway. Her legs were shaking.

The figure then tied her with a rope and tied her arms too.

Mandy was even more scared.

"What...What are you doing?"

The figure didn’t answer. She just opened a small metal box and took out a long, thin injection needle.

Mandy’s eyes widened in horror.

"N-No... please, no," she whispered, struggling against the ropes. "I’m scared of needles. Don’t—please don’t do this!"

The masked figure held the needle up to the light, tapping it with her finger. The clear liquid inside shimmered.

Mandy started crying.

"Please! I didn’t do anything! Why are you doing this to me?!"

The figure didn’t speak.

She slowly walked toward Mandy, calm and silent like a shadow. Her boots clicked on the floor with every step.

Mandy screamed.

"No! Don’t come near me! I swear I’ll be good! I’ll do anything! Please don’t stick me with that!"

The masked figure stopped in front of her and knelt down.

She didn’t speak. She didn’t blink.

She grabbed Mandy’s arm and held it tight.

"NO! STOP! PLEASE!" Mandy shouted, twisting and turning, but the ropes were tight. Her heart was beating so fast it felt like it would burst.

Tears ran down her cheeks. Her whole body was shaking.

The figure brought the needle close to her skin.

"PLEASE, NO! PLEASE! I’M BEGGING YOU!"

But the needle kept getting closer.

Mandy shut her eyes. She didn’t feel the needle yet, but her mind was already screaming.

The fear took over.

"I’ll tell you anything!" she cried. "I’ll give you money! I’ll do your homework! I’ll leave the school! Just—please—don’t use that thing on me!"

Still no answer.

Still no mercy.

The masked figure lightly poked Mandy’s skin with the tip of the needle—not deep, just enough to make her scream.

"AAAAAAHHH! PLEASE! STOP IT! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?!"

She kept begging for minutes.

Over and over.

"I’m sorry! I’ll be a good person! I swear! I’ll never lie again! Please just let me go!"

But the figure just stood there. Silent. Watching.

Sometimes she raised the needle again. Sometimes she pressed it near Mandy’s neck, or her arm, or her hand.

Never actually injecting her. Just threatening.

That was enough to make Mandy lose it.

She screamed until her voice cracked.

She sobbed until her face turned red.

Fifteen minutes passed.

It felt like hours.

When the figure finally stepped back, Mandy’s whole body was limp. Her face was soaked with tears. She looked more like a scared child than anything else.

"Who...who are you?" She asked in a small voice.

"Think carefully of who you have offended. They were the ones who had asked me to harm you." The masked figure said calmly.

Mandy’s eyes widened.

A figure appeared in her mind.

Aurora...

Didn’t she torture Aurora using Aurora’s phobia against her?

Was the black masked figure Aurora?

However, Mandy couldn’t think straight anymore. She fainted from fear and exhaustion.

The masked figure stared at her for a moment longer... then slowly turned and walked back into the shadows.

From a place Mandy can’t hear, the masked figure whispered,

"I am sorry... I had to do it to protect myself..."

The figure was Caroline, and she had recorded every second of Mandy screaming and sent it to the hacker.

At first, Caroline suspected that the hacker was Aurora, after all the way the hacker had asked Caroline to torture Mandy was similar to how Mandy and Caroline had tortured Aurora.

However, the reality was...Aurora couldn’t have such hacking skills, so she wasn’t the culprit.

But to escape punishment and hatred, Caroline decided to drag Aurora’s name.

She hoped Mandy would be dumb enough to directly convict Aurora as the suspect and not investigate deeply.