Born Into Villain's Family: I Have a 200\% Rebate System-Chapter 540: Nightmare

It was not longing. It was humanity.

No matter what Eleanor had done, he could not ignore the image of blood staining her skin.

’If she truly did this because of me...’

The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth.

’If she falls into the abyss because I refused to forgive her... I will never forgive myself either.’

By the time the car arrived at the location, Theodore’s pulse was still racing.

The so-called grand mansion stood before him, but it was not the extravagant palace its name suggested.

It was a private villa, modest and quiet, with only two floors and pale walls illuminated by dim outdoor lights.

The place was strangely peaceful, almost deceptively so.

As he stepped out of the car, a strange familiarity washed over him.

’I’ve... been here before?’ 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

The thought unsettled him.

If he had not become a well-known actor, if he had remained a struggling artist, he could imagine himself living somewhere like this.

It felt oddly aligned with a version of himself that never existed.

He brushed the thought aside and hurried inside.

The interior was neat and minimal, the silence heavy.

For a brief second, Theodore stood in the center of the living room, staring around as if chasing a forgotten memory.

But then reality struck him.

Eleanor.

He rushed toward the room she had indicated.

When he pushed the door open, it was empty.

"Eleanor!" he called out, his voice echoing faintly.

A door creaked open behind him.

She stepped out of the bathroom.

Theodore turned instantly.

The moment he saw her standing there unharmed, color returned to her face, no blood visible except the faint red mark that now looked more like a shallow scratch than a life-threatening wound, something inside him snapped.

He strode toward her.

"Are you okay?"

Before he could say more, Eleanor wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him.

"I’m fine," she murmured softly.

"I sent that picture because I missed you. Do you know how much I’ve suffered these past few days while you ignored me?"

Her voice trembled, but there was no real weakness in her grip.

Theodore felt fury surge through him like wildfire.

He had imagined her lying unconscious, bleeding, dying.

And here she was, perfectly fine, manipulating him with a staged injury.

To say he was furious would have been an understatement.

If he did not draw a clear line today, she would continue escalating these stunts.

He gently but firmly removed her arms from his neck.

When he looked at her, his eyes were cold in a way she had never seen before.

"This is the last time," he said, his voice low and deadly calm.

"If you come within ten meters of me again, or try to threaten me in any form, I will not hesitate to send you directly to a mental asylum."

There was no warmth left in him. No patience. No lingering affection.

Eleanor stood frozen as he turned and walked away without looking back.

She stared at his retreating figure for a long time, something hollow flickering in her eyes.

After the door shut, she inhaled slowly.

"Is the memory loading complete?" she asked quietly.

A calm mechanical voice responded within her mind.

[It is complete. Theodore will most likely experience the novel’s true ending tonight.]

She nodded and sat down on the edge of the bed, her expression dazed.

...............................

That night, after finishing his shooting schedule, Theodore returned home exhausted.

Sleep claimed him quickly.

And then the dream began.

In the dream, he saw another version of himself.

He had not become a superstar in this life.

He struggled for years before gaining only modest fame.

By eighteen, he was slightly well-known, but nowhere near wealthy enough to own mansions or command millions.

Still, he earned enough to rent a villa for a hundred thousand dollars a month.

Without hesitation, he moved into it.

The villa looked exactly like the one he had visited earlier that day.

The same modest elegance. The same quiet atmosphere. He watched himself living there.

Then Eleanor appeared.

She was younger, softer, like a fragile light piercing through his darker days.

He saw her struggling, mistreated by those around her. He felt pity.

He felt heartache. He invited her to stay with him.

He watched her smile shyly, watched her beauty brighten the empty villa.

Slowly, he found ways to win her heart. At first, she only laughed gently at his efforts, but over time she began to rely on him.

Yet something dark crept into his own heart.

It was not simple possessiveness born from obsession. It was fear.

In the dream, he could see shadows around Eleanor, assassination attempts, hidden dangers, people watching her from afar. He sensed threats closing in.

To protect her, he confined her. He placed her under house arrest within the villa.

But the plan backfired. Eleanor cried. She begged him to let her leave.

Even in tears, her beauty was devastating. Watching her cry tore at his heart, yet he repeated over and over,

"The world outside is dangerous. I’m protecting you."

She did not listen. Eventually, she found someone else.

In the dream, Theodore watched as Eleanor laughed with another man, went out for drinks, watched movies, lived freely.

Jealousy twisted inside him like a blade.

A voice echoed relentlessly in his mind.

’She should be mine.’

He followed her everywhere, watching from the shadows.

He saw her happiness. He saw himself unraveling. He cried alone in the villa. He watched her walk away from him completely.

He fell to his knees and begged God for a second chance.

’Let her come back. Let her love me again. I’ll do anything.’

The desperation in that dream version of himself was so intense that even sleeping Theodore felt suffocated.

And just before waking, he heard his own voice whisper through the darkness,

"If only I could start over."

He watched helplessly as life slowly drained from his own body.

In the dream, he could feel the weakness spreading through his limbs, cold and irreversible, as though every breath required unbearable effort.

Mateo stood there like an executioner, mercilessly crushing everything Theodore had tried to hold onto.

He watched as Mateo destroyed him completely.

He watched as Eleanor looked down at him, her gaze colder than winter frost.

"I never thought you would fall to such a level," she said, her voice filled with disdain. "Such a low level."

Theodore shook his head desperately, trying to explain, trying to reach for her, trying to tell her that everything he did had been for her sake.

But no sound seemed to matter. No explanation reached her. No one listened. And then everything faded into darkness.

.................................

Theodore’s eyes snapped open.

Tears had already gathered at the corners of his eyes before he even realized he was awake.

He wiped them instinctively, but more followed, blurring his vision.

He was not crying only for the ending he had just witnessed.

There was another ending. One that hurt far more. In that vision, Aurora had long been gone.

She had died at the tender age of eighteen.

Theodore felt his chest tighten violently at the memory.

After everything he had experienced with her in this life, the laughter, the arguments, the quiet understanding between siblings, the idea that there existed a world where she never lived beyond eighteen years was unbearable.

’I... wouldn’t have wanted to live either.’

The realization left him shaken.

And then came another wave of emotion.

Disgust. At himself.

To think he had once been so obsessed with Eleanor.

’I was a complete fool.’

Why had he chased someone like her?

At first she showed him warmth, kindness, a place to belong.

But the moment he became accustomed to that warmth, she withdrew it, leaving him grasping at emptiness.

It was like feeding a starving dog only to snatch the food away just as it learned to trust.

Cruel. Meaningless.

Compared to all of that, the person who truly mattered had always been Aurora.

Without another thought, Theodore got out of bed and rushed down the hallway.

He needed to see her. He needed proof that she was alive. He knocked on her door hurriedly.

The door opened a moment later, revealing Aurora rubbing her sleepy eyes, clearly just awakened.

Before she could even speak, Theodore pulled her into a tight embrace.

Aurora froze in surprise.

Then she heard his soft voice near her ear.

"Good morning."

There was something unusually vulnerable in his tone.

Aurora frowned slightly, then poked his leg with her foot.

"What’s wrong with you? Did you have a nightmare?"

Theodore shook his head, then realized she could not see the gesture.

"No," he said quietly. "It wasn’t a nightmare. It was a reality I refused to see before."

Aurora blinked, now fully awake.

’A reality where I kept giving Eleanor chances,’ he thought. ’And she kept breaking them. Even if I gave her more chances now, she would only waste them again. So it’s better to stop.’