Part 1Sleight of Heart

I transmigrated into a cannon-fodder extra, and the System immediately slapped me with a mission: seduce and win over the second male lead—the resident peacock of the school.

The problem? I’d been emotionally tone-deaf since childhood. All I could do was stand there, blink dumbly, and watch him try to toy with me the way he toyed with all his other prey.

"Guess where the rose is?"

He held a red rose behind his back, looking down at me with an effortless, honeyed smirk.

Host, in a moment like this, all you have to do is act shy! Look down and blush!

Right. Shy. Got it.

I offered a timid little smile, raised my hand, and let my fingers graze the shell of his ear before drawing back.

"I guess..."

A split second later, a gorgeous, fresh red rose materialized out of thin air between my fingertips.

"It’s right here."

The air went dead silent for two full seconds.

The rich boy's face flushed a violent, incandescent red.

* * *

The System buzzed in my ear with a violent screech of static, sounding as though its motherboard had just fried on the spot.

I held the rose out toward Parker Hayes.

"For you."

Parker stood there, completely forgetting to hide the blossom he was holding behind his back.

He’d probably flirted with half the girls at Westfield High, but this was undoubtedly the first time anyone had ever turned the tables and flirted back with pure sleight of hand.

After a few excruciating seconds, he ran a hand through his wavy brown hair, desperate to reclaim his swagger.

"Thanks," he murmured, his voice slightly raspy.

He pulled the rose out from behind his back and offered it to me, those bedroom hazel eyes flickering with a dangerous, practiced charm.

"An even trade."

I shook my head, took his rose, tapped the two stems together, and with a swift flick of my fingers, bound them into a single, seamless stem.

I deposited both blossoms right back into his palm.

"You can have both."

Evidently not expecting a phase two to the trick, Parker froze, entirely disarmed.

"Why?"

The fried System finally rebooted in my head, screeching in panic:

Host! You have to be coy! Play hard to get! That’s the only way to hook a guy like Parker!

Coy?

Understood.

The System was telling me not to be clingy, and definitely not to force him into liking me.

So I took a respectful step back, looked him dead in the eye, and said, "Because I like you."

The System: ???

Then, to substantiate my premise with absolute logical rigor, I added placidly, "So all the pretty roses belong to you."

If human mortification could take physical form, steam would have been whistling out of Parker’s ears right about then.

He gripped the stems so hard his knuckles turned white. Without a single word, he spun on his heel and bolted.

Watching the furious crimson tinting the tips of his ears, I asked internally, "System, did I handle that correctly?"

The System paused for a very long time before muttering:

...That was an absolute god-tier play. I have no notes.