"I may no longer be the Norton family's daughter," Carrie said lightly, her tone almost cheerful, "but marrying you would still be quite satisfactory."
She tilted her head, smiling.
"Once we're married, half of your property becomes mine. That means I can spend the rest of my life eating and drinking comfortably without worrying about a thing."
The expressions of the three people in the room immediately darkened.
Carrie had said it deliberately. She wanted to disgust them.
Did they really think she was still the same Carrie who would quietly endure humiliation and allow herself to be bullied?
If she wasn't happy, then no one here would be happy either.
She was not the original Carrieanymore—the girl who swallowed every insult.
Jeremy's face flushed crimson with fury.
Quietly, he released a wave of mental pressure, directing it straight at Carrie.
His mental power was S-rank.
Against someone like Carrie—whose mental power had supposedly been only E-rank—he could crush her effortlessly.
It was like the dominance of a superior predator over weaker prey.
If the pressure grew strong enough, Carrie's mind could suffer serious damage. Her mental sea could collapse.
She could even become mentally crippled.
Jeremy intended exactly that. He wanted to punish her—force her to break down, cry, and kneel before him in apology.
Originally, he hadn't planned to go this far. After all, they had known each other for years.
But she had pushed too far.
Not only refusing to leave quietly, but even daring to threaten him with marriage.
It was ridiculous. Pure delusion.
Mrs. Norton and Emily, seated nearby, immediately sensed Jeremy's move.
Yet neither of them stopped him. Instead, they watched with pleased smiles, almost as if they were enjoying a performance.
Both of them wanted Carrie to learn a lesson.
To understand her place.
Carrie instantly released her own mental power to resist. A wave of discomfort spread through her body. Her head throbbed, her chest tightened—but it remained within a tolerable range.
Still, she allowed her expression to twist into visible pain. Her eyes turned cold as she stared at them.
Finally, her gaze settled on Jeremy.
"Jeremy… are you really this heartless?"
Her voice trembled faintly. "You want to cripple me outright? After all these years… did our relationship mean nothing to you?"
Seeing her apparent suffering didn't make Jeremy stop.
If anything, it thrilled him. He increased the pressure, his mental force crashing down harder.
"You brought this on yourself," he said coldly. "In this era, strength rules above all. And you? You're nothing but trash. If I don't teach you a lesson now, once you leave the Norton family and keep acting this arrogant, others will crush you even worse."
His eyes narrowed.
"So—are you ready to cancel our engagement now?"
Carrie let out a quiet laugh. "So that's your idea of 'strength rules above all'?"
Her eyes filled with mocking disdain. "And who exactly do you think you are?"
Inside, however, she was calculating quickly.
Damn. I got careless.
Her abilities had just awakened and hadn't been upgraded yet.
But in front of this kind of trash, she absolutely could not show weakness.
System. System.
Stop pretending to be asleep.
If you don't help me right now, I'm going to die here.
And don't forget—if I die, who's going to complete your missions? You'll die with me.
The system's mechanical voice finally responded.
[Host, you currently have zero points. I can only expend my core energy—once.]
[I will temporarily restore your abilities to their peak level.]
Carrie smiled.
In the next moment, energy surged through her body like a roaring tide.
Yes.
This feeling.
She remembered it well.
Without hesitation, she released her mental power completely.
Her consciousness shot forward like a blade, plunging directly into Jeremy's mental sea.
In her previous life, her mental power had reached Level Ten.
In this era's ranking system, that was equivalent to 5S-level mental power.
Crushing Jeremy was effortless.
Jeremy's expression changed instantly. A splitting headache exploded inside his skull.
His entire body trembled as cold sweat poured down his back. Pain surged through him like fire.
"Carrie… what are you doing—?!"
His voice broke. Very quickly, he realized this was no illusion.
Carrie was serious.
He had no idea how she could possibly do this—but he couldn't endure the agony.
It felt as if his head might explode at any moment.
"F—fifty… million…"
Jeremy's voice trembled with panic.
"I agree…!"
He no longer dared to provoke her.
Carrie's lips curved slightly. She withdrew her mental pressure. Immediately afterward, she extended her hand.
A notification flashed across her wrist terminal.
50,000,000 star credits received.
Only then did she smile for real. That should last her quite a while.
With refreshing decisiveness, she opened her light-brain interface and canceled the registered engagement between herself and Jeremy.
[Fortune Points +30]
Carrie blinked.
Wait…
So beating up scum could increase Fortune Points?
Good to know.
"Well then," Carrie said calmly, looking at the three of them, "from now on, I have nothing to do with any of you."
She flicked her wrist, sending a document through her light-brain.
"A disownment agreement."
Her gaze settled on Mrs. Norton. "Please sign it, Madam Norton."