Married To My Billionaire Stepbrother - Chapter 255: Justin’s Speculations

“Block him.”“He's technically still my boss.”“Then block him with dignity.”The call ended again.And then started again.I let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a sob, then finally answered with the enthusiasm of a snail crawling through salt.“Yes, Mr. Walton?”“Have you changed your mind yet?”I collapsed onto the towel and gazed at the sky as though it might consume me entirely if I pleaded sweetly enough.“Do you ever take a break?” I asked, shielding my eyes with one hand.“You're avoiding the question.”“Because it's a dumb question.”He exhaled, the sound sharp and irritated even over phone. “It's not a dumb question. It's a business offer.”“It's a weird offer-one that I already said no to.”There was a brief pause, and I could practically hear him clenching his jaw through the speaker.“You are acting unreasonably.”“ Unreasonable?” I sat up. “I'm not the one drafting fake girlfriend contracts like it's a normal Tuesday.”“Isabella-”“Certainly not, Mr. Walton.” I mimicked his tone perfectly. “I told you I'm not doing it. You need to find someone else to play pretend with.”SYNOPSISIsabella Miller thought saying no to her boss’s fake dating offer was the end of the story.But Adrien Walton doesn’t take no—especially not when he’s convinced she’s a gold digger.Suddenly, her student loans are piling up, her father’s vet clinic is on the brink of eviction and her brother is about to be kicked out of college. Coincidence? She thinks not.Adrien Walton is calm, calculating—and he's just pulled every string to corner Isabella into the perfect position.Now she’s stuck choosing between pride and survival.So she agrees to his offer: be his fake girlfriend.No feelings attached. No drama. Just business.Or so she thought.“Conference Room B. Fifteen minutes,” he said, passing by without a glance.The folder he pushed across the table landed with a thud.I opened it. The contract. All of it.---Enemies to lovers? Check.Slow burn? Hmmnyea.Banter so sharp it might file your nails? Yes.Delicious workplace tension? Of course.Tension that could melt steel?Absolutely.Smut?? Wanna find out?Welcome to corporate romance warfare. There’s no escaping this contract.

The world is a sea of bitterness.

The mortal swims in the sea.

The body is the vessel.

The soul is the mortal on the vessel.

The vessel carries the mortal as it sails endlessly towards the other side of the sea.

Does cultivating the body strengthen the vessel enough to reach the other side of this sea of misery?

Or does cultivating the soul give the mortal on the vessel the ability to master swimming?

Cultivating according to the martial path allows one to become an Earthly Immortal.

Cultivating according to the immortal path allows one to become a Divine Immortal.

Which path should be chosen?

- Description from Novelupdates

What does it feel like to find yourself inside the novel of an author you hated? How will you survive in a world that's filled with cliché? Well, something similar happened here.

Once there was an unpopular fantasy novel author. His life was pretty messed up—no, he made it messed up. And remember I said messed up, not sad.

Due to certain reasons, he ended up never having the life that an average teenage boy should have.

But soon he was freed from that life as he died due to a lovey-dovey couple. He was freed but he had regrets…after all, he didn’t make his life that way because he wanted to.

The things he did were the result of his condition and impulses.

It seems luck was on his side at that moment, seconds after he closed his eyes and died, those eyes opened again but this time they were gazing at a world different from his old one.

He got a second chance! Now he will live a new life, a life he wanted to live! This time he can live, grow old, and then die in a “normal” way! The way things should have happened in his former life.

Though it turns out he also had a good amount of bad luck on his side as well.

Later he found out that the world he reincarnated in was the same as the novel of an author he hated the most. The only person he never wanted to talk to again…he was reincarnated inside that very person’s novel.

This is his story! The story of the man who was known by the name “Zero” in his second life. The story of how he survived without plot armor in a world filled with cliché situations, only in the favor of the MC of that novel.

This is, Author’s Reincarnation in a Fantasy Setting!!