Fated Villain
Copyright© 2026 by Traverse
Chapter 17: Is This What a Heroine Says?
David was standing not far away, eyes blazing with fury, killing intent surging as he glared at him.
Damn!
When did the male lead arrive?
And he just stood there, watching with his own eyes as he kissed Rose—wasn’t that asking for emotional damage?
Lucas instinctively wanted to let go of Rose’s hand, but to his surprise, Rose clung even tighter, half leaning on his shoulder.
“Honey, what are you looking at?”
Lucas blurted out, “I ... I’m looking at that loser over there. Why is he here again? Is he following us?”
Rose had already noticed David, but she didn’t take him seriously.
When she heard Lucas say this, she immediately cooperated, “Maybe. He’s always been jealous of you, honey.”
Hearing that, Lucas nearly choked.
[What? Is that even something a human would say? No, wait, more importantly, is that something the female lead is supposed to say?]
[The mighty male lead’s harem now says the male lead is jealous of this villain. This completely goes against the heavens!]
And then Yelena chimed in, “I think so too. Otherwise, why does he always look at Lucas like that? He must be jealous of how handsome, charming, and attractive he is and the fact that he’s engaged to you, Rose.”
Huh?
Lucas widened his eyes and looked at Yelena.
[You too? Why do you always have to join in this nonsense? Wouldn’t it be better if you just stuck to being David’s confidante?]
The two great beauties of Su City were now both clinging to Lucas, making him the center of attention in the banquet hall.
As for David...
At this point, he was still keeping a low profile, hadn’t made a name for himself, and had no beauty by his side. He appeared all alone, and no one paid him any attention.
To avoid stealing the male lead’s spotlight, Lucas had no choice but to grab a wine glass and retreat into a corner.
Unfortunately, no matter how much he tried to hide, as long as Rose was by his side, there were always people secretly glancing at him.
[Sigh, when will the female lead finally go run off with the male lead? I’m so sick of being watched every day. I just want to be an ordinary person that no one cares about, living freely and without worry!]
Rose heard his internal shouting but didn’t show any expression on her face.
She had been used to being stared at since she was little, used to confessions, stalkers, even kidnappings.
Since he chose to be her fiancé and would become her husband in the future, he had no choice but to get used to it.
Fortunately, the banquet soon began.
Most of the people attending were either interested in that piece of land or had already purchased some of it.
After all, it was a mass grave, so there weren’t many buyers. Especially since ninety percent of the land had been bought up by the male lead, not many people came to the banquet.
But what no one expected was that the first person to speak was an official from Su City!
The moment he appeared on stage with a microphone, everyone held their breath.
David even showed a confident smile and faintly turned to glance at Rose.
His eyes were filled with pride and disdain.
You didn’t believe me, and you wouldn’t buy the land with me. Rose, you’re about to find out just how ridiculous that decision was.
“Everyone, I’m here today to announce two important things. First, Su City has decided to build a new urban district!”
The moment those words fell, everyone in the banquet hall froze.
“A new urban district? Damn, I’ve been hearing vague rumors lately but didn’t quite believe it. Didn’t expect it to be true!”
“It’s about time we built a new district. The old part of Su City is way too hard to rebuild. Roads are too narrow, traffic jams all the time.”
“Are they trying to boost their performance metrics again? This is a major project. Anyone who grabs this opportunity is bound to make a fortune.”
When Lucas heard the words “new urban district,” he immediately let out a sigh of relief.
[Great, the plot point has arrived! The land David bought is about to skyrocket in value, dozens of times over. My face as the minor villain is about to get thoroughly slapped.]
[At that time, I don’t know what Rose will say or choose. But since I tricked her so badly and she lost so much money, even if she runs off with David on the spot, I could accept it.]
[After all, he does have the male lead halo.]
Someone quickly asked out of curiosity, “Where’s the new urban district going to be built?”
The official smiled into the microphone, “We’ve already planned the location. It’ll be slightly west of the northern part of the city.”
“...”
As soon as those words came out, David looked like he had been struck by lightning.
And not only him—Lucas’s smiling face froze instantly.
What? West of the north side?
He rubbed his ears and turned to Rose, doubting what he had just heard, “Did he just say the new district is...”
“West of the north side.”
“And the land David wanted you to buy...”
“Is in the east.”
What?
Lucas’s eyes widened. Didn’t that mean the land wasn’t even in the new district?
Not only was it not in the commercial center of the new urban area, it wasn’t even touching the edges!
Wait, can that be right?
David’s face turned pale as he suddenly stood up and looked at the official, “Why did it move to the north? A few days ago, you clearly told me it was in the east!”
The official gave an awkward smile, “That was what we initially discussed, planning it for the east. But we suddenly got notified from above to reject that and switch it to the north. Nothing we could do.”
What’s more, David had already finished buying the land at that point.
The official had worked hard to sell that land. He couldn’t possibly tell David to cancel it last minute just to be nice.
They were going to announce two major updates at today’s banquet. If the sale got reversed, he wouldn’t be able to explain himself to the higher-ups.
Faced with the choice between returning a favor and protecting his own interests, he chose the latter without hesitation.
And so, David got sold out.
David clenched his fists, grinding his teeth, “You played me?”
“What do you mean I played you? I told you already, it was an order from above. If you don’t believe me, go ask around! Seriously ... when I told you before, I meant well. The policy changed last minute—how’s that my fault? You’re being ungrateful.”
Being questioned so harshly in public, the official couldn’t keep face and immediately turned hostile.
He turned away from David and continued, “Next, I’ll be announcing the second item. The mass grave in the eastern district has been auctioned off and will be redeveloped into a public cemetery. Now, I’ll reveal the auction results.”
The moment those words fell, David’s expression became even uglier.
Turning the mass grave into a cemetery ... a public one at that.
Not only would he earn nothing, he’d lose a huge sum!
That amount of money might not mean much to him, but the face he lost—no amount of money could buy that back.
Soon, the big screen displayed two names.
It turned out that only two people had bought land in the mass grave. One was a relative of the official, who bought ten percent. The remaining ninety percent belonged to David.