It was brutal, but true. If something like this happened again, Lily was finished. She knew it, Marcus knew it—and Alex made damn sure to rub it in.
"Listen, cripple," Alex sneered, pacing like a drill sergeant. "A man needs to be stronger than the bastards who come for his woman. Otherwise? A bigger, stronger man will happily steal her right in front of his eyes."
He let his gaze crawl slowly, deliberately, over Lily—up, down, lingering in a way that made her feel stripped bare under that smug smile. Her cheeks burned, her thighs pressed together.
Marcus just chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his neck like some beta schoolboy caught cheating on a test. "Yeah… you're right…"
Satisfied with the lecture, Alex suddenly swayed on his feet, clutched his chest, and collapsed dramatically—straight into Lily's arms, his face buried against her soft warmth.
The system immediately exploded in praise.
[Bravo, my boss! Oscar-worthy! The gooning marathons from your past life were clearly character study sessions for THIS very moment!]
'What can I say? I was born for the role,' Alex smirked inwardly, even as he stayed limp.
Lily gasped, holding him up with both arms, her body trembling at the contact. Marcus rushed forward to help, clueless that he was steadying the man who'd just humiliated him in front of his wife.
"What happened to him?"
Lily's voice trembled, his heavy frame sagging harder against her arms.
"I think it's the poison. Hurry, let's get him home."
They half-dragged, half-carried him through the streets, Marcus stumbling under the weight, Lily panting as his tall, broad body pressed against her. By the time they reached the house, sweat clung to their skin. They laid him across the couch, his chest rising slow, uneven.
"Hurry, wife. The potion."
"But that's the last one we have. What if you need it?"
"He saved us. He comes first. We'll buy another with the money from the last three days."
Lily's hand hovered over the small vial. Her chest felt tight, her cheeks burned. The last time this man came into her shop… that unforgettable, shameful moment still lived in her body.
Now he was stretched across her couch, poisoned, vulnerable—yet her heart pounded like she was the one in danger.
After pouring the potion between Alex's lips, Lily set the vial on the table and glanced at Marcus."Husband… there's something I have to say to you."
Marcus cleared his throat, nodding for her to go on. Lily sat down beside him, hands clenched in her lap, and confessed what happened at the shop.
Well, most of it. She carefully cut out the part where Alex's fingers had slipped inside her, curled against her walls until she melted in his hands, the part where he left her trembling on the floor like a used ragdoll, the part that still haunted her thighs whenever she closed her eyes.
"Ha! I knew it!" Marcus brightened, slapping his leg. "Didn't I say it? He's a good kid. And now he's saved us again!"
'Saved us?' Lily bit her lip, staring at the unconscious man.
'More like destroyed me… inside out.'
Her breath quickened, shame prickling under her skin.
Alex lay there, handsome even in unconsciousness, the poison wound on his cheek already knitted shut.
She fetched a bedsheet, spread it gently over his broad chest, and lingered a moment longer than she should have, her fingers brushing the hard line of his collarbone.
That cocky smirk from earlier still burned in her mind, flashing with the memory of him manhandling her like she was just another flower to pluck.
A part of her wanted to strangle the bastard right there… but she stopped herself. Knowing him, if he woke up mid-strangle, he'd probably think she was trying some kinky foreplay.
"Lily, prepare a meal. We should feast him once he wakes," Marcus said, cheerful as ever.
Lily pouted, gave Alex's unconscious body one last glare, then swayed her hips a little too hard as she stomped into the kitchen.
'Feast him, huh? More like he's been feasting on me already…'
[Yo boss, what's the play here?]
'The play?'
Alex's lips curled faintly, even in sleep.
'Hu hu hu… the play is simple. I'm losing my virginity tonight.'
'By the way, is there any reward for that, system?' Alex asked, smirking in his head.
It was the right question—hell, the only question. In every pornhwa worth its lotion stains, once the MC transmigrates and gets a system, the grind isn't killing goblins—it's pounding women and stealing moans for XP.
That's how you level up. That's how legends are written.
And Alex was already ahead of the curve. He'd spanked his stepsis, fingered the shopkeeper till she dripped, flashed his cock at his stepmom twice just for shits and giggles—all before the damn system even booted up. If that didn't earn a reward, then this world was broken.
But what the system said next made Alex's eyes twitch so hard, he nearly blew his cover as the "unconscious hero" on Lily's couch.