"Mom! We're here!"
"Mommy, we're here! Catch us!"
Shrieks of laughter echoed through our small backyard. A simple house, overflowing with joy—the life I’d only dreamed of as a humble wife.
"Mommy! Hurry!" my daughter Dana urged, her impatience a charming counterpoint to her brother Josh's playful wrestling with our adopted white dog.
Dana and Josh; my twins, four years old. Four years since I married Mathias Riverlilies, the celebrated general, the hero of the war between empires.
I was blessed with this family. If my life were a book, I’d happily turn every page, reaching the fairy-tale ending with my children. Full stop.
That’s what I expected. That’s the life I had. But...
"Gracia! Gracia, open the door!" my husband's voice boomed, shattering the idyllic scene. Hesitation clawed at me; a cold dread tightened my chest. I knew what was likely coming.
"Mommy, is that Daddy? Let's open it! Maybe he has a surprise!" Dana tugged at my skirt, her innocent enthusiasm a stark contrast to the foreboding in my heart.
I gestured to the maids, and they cautiously opened the gate. I nearly dropped my daughter’s toy. My husband stood there...but he wasn’t alone.
Confusion warred with disbelief, nervousness with a chilling premonition, as I stared at the gruesome sight before me. He carried a woman, unconscious, her clothes soaked in blood.
“Is this real?” I whispered, shaking my head, trying to dismiss the image. But I heard his urgent, panicked shout and all rational thoughts evaporated.
"Gracia, let us in! Jasmine's life is in danger!" His voice, usually controlled and steady, was ragged with fear.
My brows furrowed as I stared at him, my heart pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribs. "Jasmine? Do you know her?" I demanded, but he ignored my question, barreling past me and toward the house. He practically knocked me over.
"Daddy, who is she?" Dana asked, her eyes wide with concern.
"Dad, let's go to Mommy's room! It's closer!" Josh instructed, his words laced with the practicality that only a four-year-old could demonstrate.
My legs gave way. I crumpled onto the ground, tears blurring my vision.
"Madam, don't worry. The general doesn't feel that way about her. Please, don't be jealous," Mathias’s right-hand man hurried past, his words a hollow reassurance.
You're wrong... all of you are wrong…
My fear wasn't of jealousy but of the chilling words inscribed on the ethereal screen only I could see: "Jasmine discovered a secret military force planning a rebellion, disguised as bandits; they planned to kill her, but Mathias saved her. Mission: Gain Mathias's sympathy."
Then, the truly terrifying part: I would die. This translucent screen, my own personal oracle of doom, recorded my fate.
I refused to believe it, to accept the cruel twist of fate. But with my husband bringing the very woman described on the screen, the chilling reality started to sink in. The idyllic life I'd painstakingly built was crumbling.
"No! This isn't happening! I'm the wife, the mother, the heart of this home. You can't just replace a family member like that! No!" Panic seized me, my hands flailing as I tried to tear the screen from my vision, but it remained stubbornly fixed.
"Go away! Please, just go away!" A wail of despair escaped my lips, the words a desperate plea to the cruel reality that seemed intent on shattering my carefully crafted happiness. The faint sounds of my children’s worried whispers didn’t reach me; my world was drowning in the cold certainty of imminent loss. The scene dissolved into stark, horrifying clarity as I saw the woman's lifeless eyes and the crimson tide soaking her clothes. My nightmare wasn’t a dream; it was my future. And it was coming for me.
Gracia Matilladious thought she had a perfect life not until the mysterious screen appeared in her front. Turns out she was a male lead first wife that will be killed in a rebellion and that mysterious screen called 'System' that connected in heroine and has a missions that will turn her as a second wife of the male lead. The system got bug and accidentally connected on Gracias that is why she can read those missions and more about the heroine's thoughts. The system contains about how Gracia will be killed and the tragic story of her will be a healing story life of her family with the help of heroine in short it's a whole story of her family like a book. Using the bug system, Gracias is willing to fight for her destiny however her fate was forcing her to follow those plots and give up her life. While fighting for her fate she discovers she can't change her husband already fell in love with the heroine and her life was slowly stolen by the said heroine causing her to be a vicious woman in the name of her family love.