She never noticed that the light in that other girl's eyes had been extinguished long ago. That girl wore high-collared clothes year-round to hide the scars, and her obedience was less like a wife and more like a beaten dog.
I just chuckled and pushed the thought of Natalie Fox from my mind.
Half a year later, my project exploded.
My capital tripled. I moved into a spacious penthouse. The investors were thrilled, injecting another twenty million into my fund.
Just as my future was reaching its zenith, Natalie called.
Her voice trembled with manic excitement.
"I'm about to be famous!"
"If you weren't so useless, only able to give me a measly five million, I wouldn't have been stuck as the third female lead before! But this time? I'm the star. The spotlight will chase me, the buzz will launch me into the sky. I'll be so famous you'll need a telescope just to look up at me!"
She ranted in a single, breathless stream.
I pretended I hadn't heard a word.
Quietly, I opened my phone and refreshed the trending search page.
In my previous life, this was the exact moment the drama became a massive hit.
But in the original timeline, the one who broke out wasn't the lead couple—it was the minor supporting role played by Natalie.
The main characters were written as standard, cookie-cutter templates. Perfect. Boring. Forgettable.
Natalie's character—the vicious villainess—was beautiful, strong, and tragic. Magnetic. Combined with her visually stunning face, she went viral through fan edits and short clips.
She seemed to think that if she took the lead role, she would be even more popular.
But the entertainment industry is cruel. It never lacks pretty faces; it lacks souls. A role only works if it resonates.
Twenty minutes passed.
The clock struck midnight. A brand new day.
Natalie couldn't wait. She had likely already paid marketing accounts to flood the internet with beauty edits of herself.
Her tone was thick with arrogance. "As long as the camera captures my face, the audience will be obsessed. Just watch—within minutes, my name will dominate the trends. Topic after topic praising my beauty. Directors will be begging at my door, and brands will be lining up!"
The marketing campaign was indeed overwhelming.
Finally, the trending list moved.
Two entries began to climb the rankings.
I glanced at the screen.
#1: *Natalie Fox, Narcissist.*
#2: *'Chasing Green' is trash—who is actually watching this?*