Reborn With a Money-Making System: Ruined Actress to Nation's Treasure-Chapter 172: A Guest

[Because of that, the higher system wants to give you the chance to receive monthly missions instead.]

"Won’t the missions become more difficult?" I asked curiously.

I still couldn’t believe that the delicious pie in front of me was free. Because of that, I felt like I would have to do something difficult to earn a bigger reward.

[There is a possibility that the missions will become difficult, but don’t worry, Host. Penny believes that you will still be able to complete them!] she said cheerfully.

I let out a soft sigh. "Well, it’s not like I can refuse this kind of offer, right?"

Since there was no option to either ’accept’ or ’reject,’ I came to the conclusion that the higher system had decided this from the very beginning.

[Unfortunately, no, Host.]

I took off my coat and then lay down on the bed. "When will I receive the new mission, then?"

[Around next week, Host.]

"I see," I muttered. "I hope it won’t stress me out too much."

===

The next day, I officially started my first day of filming. To be honest, I felt a little annoyed because I didn’t get to see Lando yesterday.

He came home when I was already asleep and left again before I woke up. He had always done this, but for some reason, after we confessed our feelings to each other, I couldn’t help wanting to see him more often.

Still, I knew I shouldn’t act too clingy, or he might get annoyed with me as well.

I finished a can of soda and looked toward Samuel and Mira, who were in the middle of filming their scene. It looked like they were acting out their wedding night, where Samuel pushed Mira onto the bed.

He was angry at her and ended up taking out his frustration by having sex with a wife he didn’t even want.

’Isn’t this rape?’ I asked Penny in my mind. ’This feels wrong.’

[In the script, it’s said that the female lead, Anya, will end up liking it as well, so maybe this is dub-con.]

I clicked my tongue softly. This kind of genre was always placed in a gray area, but to me, it wasn’t much different from rape. Forcing someone into sex until they "like it" was never normal.

But what could I say? Stories like this sold very well. People kept writing the same thing again and again.

"Helcia."

I turned around when someone called my name, and the person responsible for this gray-area story finally appeared. "I heard from the director that you did very well in your first scene."

Junniper Leslie, the writer, walked toward me with a sweet smile. Honestly, if I didn’t know that she was a spicy romance writer, I might have thought she was completely innocent.

In the end, appearances really can deceive our eyes.

"Mr. Carter is probably exaggerating," I said as I threw the soda can into the trash and smiled at Junniper. "I thought you wouldn’t come here, Junni."

"Ah, yes. I thought my signing day would take a long time, but it turned out it finished much faster," Junniper said.

A few days ago, she had just released another spicy book. This time, it seemed to be a reverse harem with a mafia theme. Because of that, she had to sign at least two thousand books for the first sale.

Maybe... I should buy one and practice with my husband? Ah, damn it. My thoughts were going in a bad direction again.

I shook my head slightly, trying to clear all the inappropriate thoughts from my mind.

"Oh, Helcia, this might sound a bit rude, but I just don’t want to speculate too much," Junniper leaned closer and whispered, "Weren’t you supposed to be the female lead in the new series Love Beneath the White Umbrella? I just saw the official announcement, and the main actress is... someone else."

My smile cracked a little when I heard Junniper’s question. Honestly, this was also one of the reasons why I was so pissed off today.

Even though I told Marissa that I had let go of the case, seeing the official poster still made anger rise inside my heart.

After all, I had practiced the script countless times, and it took up so much of my time. However, all of that hard work was instantly destroyed just because I rejected that bastard, Kai.

To make things worse, the actress who took the role was Lariette Archer, one of the people who had ruined my life in the past.

I didn’t even understand why she wanted to take such a small drama, but maybe it was because her acting career had been flopping lately.

"Yeah, something came up." I tried my best to keep my smile. "I decided to turn down the offer and focus on one drama first," I lied.

But actually, there was something that made me feel strange about all of this. They found my replacement in such a short time—even, barely a week—and the poster they released also looked very professional, as if it had been prepared for a long time.

Therefore, I couldn’t help but think that Kai had wanted to push me out of that series from the very beginning.

It seemed that his hatred toward his brother was greater than I had imagined.

"I see..." Junniper looked at me with a sympathetic gaze, patting my arm several times to comfort me, even though it didn’t really have much effect on me.

Besides, why was she looking at me with such pity? Didn’t I just say that I was the one who decided not to shoot two dramas at the same time?

Did Junniper also know something about this? Ah, considering how she tried to climb the ladder through me, maybe she really had managed to climb the ladder through someone else and successfully work with the Brixtons.

But fortunately, the Brixtons wouldn’t have any involvement in this drama, so my position would be safe.

I talked with Junniper for a while, and she later expressed her gratitude, saying that she was happy because I chose to take a role in her drama.

After that, I went back to filming again, but this time with another character instead of the male lead. Therefore, at least I didn’t have to see Samuel’s face and add more annoyance to my heart.

I didn’t have many scenes to shoot today, so I was able to leave earlier than the main leads. Even so, I still got home after nightfall, to be exact at eight in the evening.

Honestly, I had hoped that Lando would suddenly come pick me up, but when I saw Mr. Silo’s face, I couldn’t help letting out a soft sigh.

"What’s wrong, Young Madam?" Mr. Silo asked when he noticed that I seemed to be in a bad mood.

"I’m fine," I replied briefly. "I’m just tired."

Fortunately, he didn’t say anything after that, and I decided to just sleep in the car. When we arrived at the manor, I noticed an unfamiliar car parked in front.

After living in the manor long enough, I could at least recognize the cars that belonged to Lando, and I was sure that the car in front of the manor belonged to someone else.

"Henry, whose car is that?" I asked as soon as I stepped into the manor.

Henry leaned toward me and whispered, "It belongs to the private detective hired by Young Master. He just arrived, but Young Master is still on his way home."

"Oh? Mr. Mercer?" My eyes lit up when I remembered that name.

If I remembered correctly, after he found the massage coupon, he decided to go to that massage place located in Shellmere City, a coastal city.

However, I hadn’t heard any news from him after that, or more precisely, because Lando hadn’t told me anything regarding the matter yet.

But maybe he hadn’t done so because he didn’t want to burden my mind, especially since I had so many things to deal with over the past few days.

"Oh, I can meet him now," I said enthusiastically.

Henry looked at me with some hesitation. "Ah... Young Master actually asked me to forbid you from speaking alone with the detective, Young Madam."

I frowned. "Why? Does he think I won’t be able to handle the information that Mr. Mercer has?"

Henry pressed his lips into a thin line and said, "Probably." Then he added, "But, Young Madam, it might be better for you to listen to Young Master."

I was about to say something, but I stopped when my phone suddenly buzzed and I saw Lando’s contact calling me.

I glanced at Henry before answering the call, then stepped aside and pressed the screen to my ear.

"Lando?" I said softly.

"I’m almost home," his voice came through the line. He sounded a bit tired, but still trying to act calm. "I heard Mercer arrived earlier than expected."

"Yes," I replied. "He’s already here. I was just about to meet him."