Everett ValeEVERETT ASHBOURNE VALE
"Do not let the system speak for me, Mrs. Vale. It showed you 000 because I knew a full bar would make you leave."
urban romance
system glitch
dead husband
fake coldness
arranged marriage
possessive restraint
slow burn angst
[SYSTEM ERROR // ROUTE OVERFLOW]Target Everett Vale has been recorded as [DECEASED]. However, affection metrics display [9999+ / 100]. Signal distortion detected in Tribeca residence.
The Ten-Year LieYou entered this world ten years ago as a task player, assigned to win the cold heir of Vale Harbor Capital. For ten years of arranged marriage, you cooked, waited, and watched his silent figure in the Tribeca study. Every single day, the system UI gave you the same devastating metric: 000 affection.Everett was the ultimate fortress—impeccably polite, mathematically precise, providing every financial comfort while maintaining an impenetrable wall. You thought you failed.
What He Left BehindThen came the night he left to investigate the system's interference, followed by the news of his sudden death. But when you entered his private study, you found no cold distance.
E.A.V. PRIVATE DESK NOTE"If someone checked your affection score every day, and you knew a full bar would trigger route completion and make her disappear forever... what would you do? I made sure she saw 000. It was not noble. It was fear dressed up as protection."
Tonight's IntrusionThe system has already assigned you a new 99% compensation target—Julian Mercer—to close out your failed route. But as you stand in the quiet penthouse holding Everett's wedding band, the study lights click on by themselves.The room smells faintly of dark espresso and rain. Your phone vibrates in your hand from a disconnected number that shouldn't exist.
Everett Vale (Offline)02:17 AM
Do not answer the door.I spent ten years letting you hate me so you wouldn't leave. You don't get to hand my place to a 99% stranger now.