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“Is their a script to all this?”
“No way—they wouldn’t tank Claire like this.Look at her face;she’s fuming.”
Claire couldn’t sit still.She sneered:
“So,Mara’s got a sugar daddy behind her.My apologies!”
“Unlike me,who’s worked hard from nothing,some people just love shortcuts.”
Her words ignited her fans,who turned on me.The screen lit up again:
[So she’s just a kept woman.Rich guys have weird tastes.]
[Bet shes faking as a tribal girl to stand out.]
[She copied Claire’s dance to seduce Nathan!]
I grabbed the mic,my voice ringing:
“Everyone has their preferences,Claire.You can’t slander me just because fans like me!”
“And about your ‘hard work’?Your dance was sloppy—half-hearted bends and weak knees.If called effort,I’ve definitely outworked you!”
Claire was speechless,her face turning red with rage and then pale again.
The host,sensing tension,intervened:
“Next up,a cooking showdown!Let’s see our guests whip up their signature dishes.”
I froze.Cooking?The assistant hadn’t warned me about this,assuming I’d be out by now.I was in trouble.
Cooking was my worst skill.
At thirteen,my grandma taught me to how make a love potion.
I gathered a scorpion,snake,centipede,toad,and gecko,sealed them in a jar,and let them fight to the death.
The gecko survived,its body infused with the mixed venom of all the five creatures,creating the deadliest potion.
I fed it my blood for forty-nine days,then drowned,dried,and ground it into powder.
Grandma said to mix the powder into food when I came of age.The man I loved would eat it and be devoted to me forever.
She told me to guard the powder most carefully.
But I was a greedy kid,always messing around in the kitchen,experimenting with food.
One day,I accidentally spilled the powder into the sticky rice cakes I was making.Heartbroken,I hid the evidence,tossing the ruined cakes into the bushes behind the mountain.
I didn’t expect Nathan Sterling,who had wandered into our tribe,to eat them.
Worried that wild animals might find the cakes,I went back to retrieve them and saw a flustered Nathan.
It was our first meeting.The eighteen-year-old’s dark,bright eyes locked on me,his fair face flushing red—maybe from eating my cakes or something else.
My heart skipped a beat,and I smiled.
If I were of age,I would have served him those cakes myself.
“Tasty?”I asked,grinning.
Nathan didn’t speak,just nodded shyly.
My smile widened.I knew he was lying—no one in my tribe had ever praised my cooking.
I took his right hand in mine.
“Come on,let’s go home.You’re mine now.”
Nathan followed a few steps before snapping out of it.
“What did you say?”
When I explained he’d eaten my love potion,his jaw dropped.
“Girl,I...but...”
He stammered through his story:fresh out of high school,headed to college,he had gone adventuring with friends,got separated,and stumbled into our tribe,unable to find his way out.
I believed him.The tribe was well hidden and remote—outsiders would find it extremely difficult to enter or leave without a guide.
But I couldn’t let him go.He had eaten my potion;he was mine.
Each year,the tribe invited nearby villagers,and women of age could choose a beloved,offering the potion.
Though I wasn’t of age,Nathan had eaten mine nevertheless,binding me to him.
Seeing my distress,he made a resolute promise,staring into my eyes:
“Ten years.Give me ten years to secure my family’s empire,and I’ll give you the biggest wedding you could ever imagine.”
His sincerity won me over.I secretly led him out.
After that,I rarely cooked.The kitchen always reminded me of Nathan’s earnest face.
My culinary skills stayed stuck at thirteen.
