Dethrone Nepo Babies, But Make It Fashion
Ding!
[Daily Credits Deposited: $10,000,000]
Selene was about to curse the system when the sudden announcement made her freeze. Her furious expressions turned into shock. Then, awe.
[Funds refresh every 12 hours.]
[Passive Buff Activated: +2% Compound Interest on Unused Credits.]
[You still need to file for taxes.]
[Click here if you would like to know more about taxes.]
Selene's heart skipped a beat.
Ten. Million. Dollars.
Every. Twelve. Hours.
Her math was poor, so she did not bother calculating exact numbers, but her thoughts ran wild. 'I will become a billionaire like this in no time! Heck, I can even become a trillionaire-no, no, even higher!'
Things have suddenly become dangerously tempting.
"I would never need a job like this," she whispered, staggering back on her feet. "Can I… buy the moon like this?"
Selene firmly slapped her cheeks.
"No. You can't be swayed like this! Focus! Money is the root of all evil!"
If it were not for money, Bianca would have never ruined Selene's life. If it weren't for money, Adrian would have never betrayed her…
And her father?
Selene felt a weird emptiness when she thought about him. Everything had been so chaotic that she had not gotten any chance to try to find out more about him.
Where was he?
Was he still alive…?
"System," Selene mumbled, "Can you tell me where my father is?"
[Personal details about Victor Sinclair are not available. The Player must unlock 51% affinity with another person to unlock access to their private information.]
Selene blinked. "Wait. What?"
[Privacy laws of emotional entanglement apply. Please build stronger relationships before snooping.]
"Gosh, fine." She mumbled bitterly, "How much affinity do I have now?"
Ding!
A light pink holographic window popped before Selene. There was a heart emoji at the top section, and below, there was a list of people spelled in golden font.
[Affinity Level]
[Blackie - 94%]
[Gracie - 93%]
[Light Grey Kitten - 88%]
[Bianca Sinclair - 37%]
[Mariah - 36.9%]
[Victor Sinclair - 23.8%]
[Adrian Hale - 21%]
Selene stared at the screen. Then stared harder.
Bianca Sinclair — her wicked stepmother, passive-aggressive couture queen, and current lead suspect for all her trauma — had the highest affinity among humans?
And her father? 23%????
Selene narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "There's no way that's true! How could Mariah and I have such low affinity? You're definitely glitching!"
[Running Internal Diagnosis….]
[No errors found.]
[The System is running in perfect condition.]
Selene glared at the golden screen, "Your percentages make no sense!"
[You and Mariah have not been in contact for years.]
"Well, yeah," Selene complained, "But still! How can I have the highest affinity with Bianca??!!!"
[Affinities are calculated based on emotional imprint + time spent thinking about the person. You and Bianca have spent 74.8% of your brain activity mutually slandering each other.]
Ding!
[Congratulations! New Achievement 'Bonded by Hatred' Unlocked!']
Selene mumbled something under her breath and slumped on a cloudy couch. She had enough money now to not be dependent on the system for everything.
"Whatever," she said, quickly calling Blake.
He answered in two rings. "Miss Sinclair?"
"I need an investigator."
A pause.
"...May I ask why?" His voice was hesitant.
"To find my father," Selene muttered. "Well… you must have seen the news. They are keeping him hidden somewhere. And if Bianca is behind all this, she's hiding it better than her Botox budget."
Another pause.
Blake refrained from commenting that Bianca was young enough not to need Botox, and that Selene just sounded jealous.
He cleared his throat.
"Miss... I'm not your assistant," Blake said politely, though there was a touch of sadness in his voice. Perhaps, for her father. Victor Sinclair was loved by many.
Just not his family. Not anymore.
But he was known for having done some revolutionary deeds and charities.
Selene sighed, "Well, find me an assistant along with an investigator, then. Just find me someone who would be the best at their job."
Blake did not respond right away.
Selene could sense his reluctance.
She was also pretty sure that Blake was with Reynold right now. And Reynold must be giving him a death glare, as if to say, 'If you dare to help the woman who broke my family heirloom, I will make you eat broccoli for the rest of your life."
Before Selene could say anything else, her phone buzzed.
Incoming Call: Sinclair Mansion.
And they never called her like that.
Selene's heart dropped like a bad stock.
Her hand twitched. Her whole expression shifted—dread carving itself into her features like a horror movie jump scare in slow motion.
"I—just help me one more time, Blake," she said quickly, and just then, her phone died.
Selene grumbled under her breath.
'Something might be wrong…'
Selene bit her lips as she placed her phone on the charger.
The Sinclaire Mansion reminded her of Adrian.
And Selene's expression soured.
'What if it's him calling?'
'But why? He should be just happy that Bianca is giving him attention.'
Bianca Sinclair had a cult following online. People were willing to die to become her mistress… or the male equivalent of mistress. She was that beautiful.
That charming.
Selene glanced at the large mirror.
'Is that why Adrian cheated on me? Does he think I am too ugly?'
'That would be weird since he looks like an ape.'
Selene scoffed, but a strange tingling pricked her head before she could turn away.
She paused.
A soft rush of cold brushed through her mind and deeper into her flesh. Then, bones.
Something strange was happening.
The coldness was like a thousand threads of ice piercing through her skin, and weaving something she could not understand. Her heartbeats suddenly raced. Her hands trembled.
Then… Selene froze.
Ding!
'Iron Widow Integration Completed!'
Selene was unsure if she should be amazed… or call an exorcist.
Her skin looked flawless. Suspiciously flawless. As if she'd bathed in moonlight, moisturized with melted diamonds, and eaten nothing but fairy dew.
Her lips were plumper, redder, her cheekbones sharper, and her posture… taller?
And yet, she did not look too different from how she was before.
It was as if the most minute flaws of her were picked and subtly changed.
"What in the filtered influencer hell…" she muttered.
Selene ran her fingers through her hair. Even that felt upgraded—thicker, glossier, like a shampoo commercial that wasn't lying for once.
But the biggest change?
Her mind.
It was so strangely calm.
Suddenly, Adrian seemed worthless. Not important enough to be thought about.
At the same time, there was a restlessness… that could not be defined.
Selene could practically feel thoughts moving like traffic through her skull—except there were no traffic jams. Just express lanes of calculations, deductions, and a weird mental note that she had left the stove on in her old apartment.
A soft chime echoed in her ears.
Ding!
[You have successfully integrated with the Iron Widow Class.]
[Charisma Buff Activated!]
[Neural Enhancements Activated!]
[Confidence Levels: Overcompensating. Proceed with caution.]
Selene let out a small sigh.
The system was really strange. No matter how much she tried to think, it did not make enough sense. What was the point of making her beautiful out of blue?
Although she was not proud of her appearance, Selene wasn't insecure either.
The system responded right away.
[Being drop-dead gorgeous is a requirement for the selected class, Iron Widow! The player must ensure they play the role well.]
Selene pouted.
"I wanted to become the dark knight, not a genius playboy billionaire."
The monotonous voice announced— [The second class selection will happen once you reach—]
The voice was suddenly disrupted.
An odd silence settled for a moment. Then, static, and—
Ding!
[The First Scenario 'New Money Curse' is in Progress!]
[New Quest Unlocked!]
[Become the CEO!]
[Deadline: 7 Days]
[Objective: It's in the title]
[Penalty: ???]
[Optional Bonus: Dethrone one nepotism baby. Extra flair points if you do it wearing sunglasses.]
A golden holographic panel appeared before Selene.
[Available Business Domains:]
[Option 1. Luxury Real Estate — You have purchased a huge amount of luxury property across Atlantis. Why not use them to earn more money?]
[Option 2. High-Stakes Auction & Black Market Trade — 20% of your assets are absurdly expensive impulse buys! Start a Black Market Auction Business to earn money from them!]
[Option 3. Arcane Labs — Dormant Gaming Studio (CEO Unclaimed). A company with an uncertain future. Would you take the risk to raise it from the dead?]
Selene blinked. "Arcane Labs?"
She had completely forgotten about the company, and it was the most tempting option.
Chronova. The game that once had teenagers forgetting to blink. A mega-hit now lying in digital ruins….
What if even her one billion donation made no difference?
What if the devs never resumed operations?
Selene bit her lips.
Before she even tried to think, her mind was racing with possibilities.
The moment Arcane Labs gets back up, there will be instant tension from the rivals. Especially the Monteverdes. They didn't like competition. Or other people with money. Or anything that didn't involve overpriced champagne and power suits.
But this option was so tempting…
Too tempting.
Selene sighed.
She turned away from the diamond-encrusted mirror and wandered through the newly redesigned penthouse.
No longer the cold minimalism nightmare it had been. Now it breathed with life. The walls were a warm cream, the floors polished wood, and the scent of sandalwood floated in the air like a memory from the past.
Her mom had been a Buddhist.
And so, she always lit sandalwood incense.
The interior designers have swiftly changed everything in the penthouse to recreate the home her mother once lived in. The cozy, elegant kind of luxury—tea sets, soft curtains, not a single sterile LED strip in sight.
A digital portrait of her mother hung above the fireplace. The designers had added subtle AI motion to the eyes, so they blinked once an hour.
Slightly creepy. Kinda comforting.
She stepped upstairs.
Second floor. The hallway narrowed.
She paused in front of a door.
The bathroom.
Selene reached out. Her hand hovered over the knob. Her heart pounded for no reason… and for a moment, her mind was in the past. Remembering the way the water has been a beautiful shade of red.
Her fingers twitched. Her stomach knotted.
Selene could still not open the door.
She could not move ahead.
Instead, she stepped back and muttered, "Later," and walked away.
Five minutes have passed since Selene placed her phone on the charging pod. And now? The battery was already one hundred percent.
Selene picked up her phone with a cracked screen.
It was one of the few things she had forgotten to upgrade.
She turned on the device, and bam! It exploded with a hundred notifications. There were messages from fifty people, forty-nine of them were people Selene had spoken to in years. Missed calls from seventeen different numbers, and—
Rrrriiiiingggg!!!!
Incoming Call: Mad Mariah!
Selene quickly picked up.
"Hey, nanny. How are the kittens?" She asked hurriedly.
But instead of Mariah's voice, Selene heard the person she hated the most. It was Bianca. She spoke in a sweet, smooth, honey-like voice… a honey that was laced with arsenic.
"The kittens are adorable, aren't they, Selene?" She asked with a soft chuckle. "They wandered into my garden today. You should come pick them up before I get too attached."
Selene's blood turned cold.
It sounded harmless.
Too harmless.
Which meant it wasn't.