This was interesting. I had spent a fortune on Riven, feeding him and clothing him, showering him with all sorts of luxuries, and granting his every request.

After all that, he still told me that he couldn't accept me touching him, and I never laid a finger on him.

However, none of that seemed to matter compared to a single line Teresa said in his defense.

Teresa was still being her annoying self and chattering non-stop at the table. I soon got sick of her voice and said, "Can you just shut up?"

The table fell into an awkward silence at my words.

Dad frowned and looked at me, wanting to tell me to behave properly. Meanwhile, Teresa's mother, Gwen Whitmore, continued eating her dinner as if nothing was happening at all.

Teresa looked at me with an aggrieved expression. Then, she looked at Riven with tears welling in her eyes.

Then I heard the clatter of utensils against the plate. Riven's cold, aloof voice sounded across the table.

"Can you not be so aggressive with your words?"

Everyone at the table was shocked. After all, nobody had ever dared to talk to me that way ever before, not even my family members.

Dad slammed his hand on the table and jumped to his feet, his face red with anger.

"Tracy Ashford! Look at how much you've spoiled him! I've never ever seen an incubus speak to his master like that!"

On the contrary, I wasn't mad at all. I just looked at Riven thoughtfully.

Riven had been acting indifferently with me ever since I bought him. He acted like an emotionless robot whenever he was with me.

I thought that it was just his personality, but I realized that it wasn't the case anymore. Something felt off.

Wasn't he overreacting a little too much? I had simply chided my stepsister at the table.

Riven always looked at me with dark, hollow eyes, but I could clearly see the sparkle in his eyes every time he looked at Teresa.

Dinner was unpleasant. That night, Dad refused to let Riven sleep in the same room as me.

"Starve him for a night. Show him who's boss!"

I didn't dare to tell Dad that Riven had never been fed like that ever since his arrival. I also did not disclose that it was because he simply refused to feed.

It was just too embarrassing to admit that.

I got up in the middle of the night feeling thirsty and went downstairs for some water. However, I suddenly heard movement from the room next to mine.

I froze.

Was that a woman's voice coming from Riven's room?

I walked closer to the door, my eyes slowly turning cold.

I hadn't been hallucinating. It really was Teresa's voice, and it was exceptionally clear in the quiet of the night.

"Thanks for speaking up for me at the table, Riven. You probably don't know this, but nobody in this household is ever on my side. I purposely came here to thank you."

The voice Riven replied her with was gentle and tender, and I had never heard anything like that before.

"Tracy has quite a terrible personality, but she's not a bad person at heart. If she tries bullying you again, you should stand up for yourself and fight back. She can't do anything to you anyway."

A hint of mockery flashed in my eyes. Riven had only lived with me for a month, and yet, he sounded as though he knew me very well.

Right at that moment, I suddenly realized that Teresa was the one who had opened my parcels for me a month ago when he arrived in the box.

It finally dawned on me that I hadn't received a faulty or malfunctioned incubus from the company. It was just that my incubus had already fallen in love with someone else before getting bound to me.

No wonder Riven never let me touch him like that.

I recalled the conversation I had with the customer service representative. So, I went back into my room and brought the chat back up.

"My incubus still hasn't recovered yet. I don't think I want to send him in for servicing anymore. Please just replace him instead."

The reply was almost instant, as usual.

"Understood, Ms. Ashford. I'll put in the order for you and send out your new incubus tomorrow. It should take a week for him to arrive."

After thinking for a bit, I asked the customer service representative another question.

"Then what do I do with this current one?"

This time, the customer service representative took a long time to respond.

"You don't have to worry about it, Ms. Ashford. Incubi who are returned faulty or with negative reviews will be recollected when we have the time before getting resold for a lower price."

Resold for a lower price?

I thought about how Riven kept remaining steadfastly loyal to his celibacy each time I tried approaching him and found it amusing.

I bet that if Riven didn't end up getting bought by Teresa, he would keep getting returned by his next buyers with countless negative reviews, and he would never, ever be fixed.

The next morning, I came out of my room yawning widely and bumped right into Riven.

He was wearing casual sportswear and looked as though he had just returned from a workout outside the villa.

Teresa's voice was saccharinely sweet.

"Riven, your physique is simply gorgeous. You're so disciplined, too! If I had the money, I would definitely buy an incubus who looked exactly the same as you!"

Teresa's words sounded off. She was blatantly flirting with Riven and provoking me at this point.

Riven carefully observed my expression. He only relaxed when he noticed I didn't look the least bit bothered and returned Teresa's smile.

I watched their exchange and couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes at them.

Riven and Teresa were both jerks for flirting right under my nose.

However, I had already requested for Riven to be returned and replaced, so he no longer had anything to do with me.

Teresa wasn't rich. Dad had given me all the shares to his company, and Teresa's and Gwen's jobs were to just live a comfortable life with Dad. That was all.

She would never be able to afford a brand-new, customized incubus with her allowance. However, she also looked down on all the cheap incubi on the market.

That night, I didn't even wait for Dad to hint at anything and chose to sleep in different rooms from Riven once again.

Riven was a little stunned as he watched my back. His long, slender fingers gripped the door handle just a little bit tighter.

He thought that things would be as usual, with him trying to stop me from sleeping in the same room as him while I forced my way in. And when he said he wasn't feeling well, I would just reluctantly give up and resort to spooning him from the back.

However, he felt his heart sink this time when he saw that the door to my room was tightly shut.

While poring over the incubus manual that the customer service representative gave me that night, I heard a knock on the door.

This time, I was determined to learn how to take good care of my personal incubus, and I was deeply engrossed in reading it on my screen when I went to open the door.

I thought that it was Dad, with a warm glass of milk, but to my surprise, Riven was the one standing there instead.

At first, he seemed a little impatient with how long it took for me to get to the door. However, he soon saw the manual on my iPad screen, and his expression softened considerably after that.

"These are all just textbook knowledge. What do you want to learn about me? I'm standing right here, aren't I?" he said.

I looked up from my screen and stared at him in confusion. I then looked at my iPad before looking at him again.

It soon dawned on me that Riven must have misunderstood me.

I found it hilarious. Dad was right. I had been spoiling him rotten, alright.

Was Riven thinking that I was doing my homework to try and get back in his favor?

Still, I didn't bother clearing up the misunderstanding. After all, he was going to be returned to the factory very soon. What else was there to say to him anyway?

"What are you doing here?" I asked, leaning against the frame with an indifferent look on my face.

Riven was stunned. He didn't think that I would be acting so coldly toward him.

He also didn't know what he was doing at my door. He had just lay on his bed, feeling hungrier and emptier by the second. He recalled my departing figure and suddenly found himself knocking at my door afterward.

I watched Riven standing blankly in the hallway, a hint of impatience flashing in his eyes.

"Is there anything I can help you with, in the middle of the night?" I asked.

"I think…"

Riven's voice was dry and hoarse. He fixed his gaze on my lips and said, "I-I think we can try tonight… Maybe I can accept you…"

I widened my eyes in shock.

The look on his face was that of satisfaction. He was smug, thinking that he was doing me a huge favor.

I nearly burst out laughing with how angry I was.

I had been pampering Riven so much over the past few days that he seemed to have already forgotten that his very existence was to serve me. He should not have acted as though he was doing me a huge favor by offering his services to me.

I slammed the door shut in his face, not even wanting to speak to him at all.

Riven seemed to have stood outside the door for a very long time. It wasn't until way past midnight that I finally heard him leave in my half-asleep state.

Over the next few days, Riven began acting like a completely different incubus altogether.

He began subtly flirting with me and became increasingly clingy with me as well. I looked at his pale face and figured that he must be starving really badly now.

However, I had already lost all interest in him, so I just pretended not to understand any of his obvious signals.

It was Monday when my new incubus arrived at the door.

Dad went to work early in the morning, and Grandma had left for her senior citizen book club. Gwen had also gone shopping by herself, and there was barely anybody at home.

I gleefully tear open the new package, and lo and behold, I saw a handsome young man smiling back at me, his eyes crinkling upward whenever he smiled.

And just like that, I quickly found myself completely enamoured by him.

I could see his eyes sparkling brightly as he looked at me.

"Good morning, my lady. My name is Jett Corvus. It is my utmost pleasure to serve you."

I gulped hard. This was the kind of incubus I wanted!

The customer service representative was really good. I decided that I was going to leave them a five-star review later.

I circled around Jett many times, occasionally reaching out to touch or squeeze his muscles. Jett just stood there obediently, letting me touch him all over his body without resisting.

There was a slight commotion upstairs, and I hesitated slightly. I quickly suppressed the lust in my chest and decided to go upstairs to see what was going on.

Jett followed right behind me like a puppy.

I could hear Teresa's voice coming from Riven's room.

"Riven! Have you gotten into an argument with Tracy? I noticed that you've been getting leaner and leaner by the day. I purposely checked the incubus manual, and… Is it true that you'll starve if you don't sleep in the same room as her?"

Teresa was finally showing her true colors. I leaned against the door frame, watching the scene play out before me.

I didn't know what had happened inside the room. I could only hear Riven sounding a little alarmed as he said, "Don't be like this, Teresa… I belong to Tracy. She'll get angry if she finds out."

Teresa sounded like she was panting.

"But you're starving! I'm just trying to feed you…"

Teresa hadn't even managed to finish talking when Riven opened the door to show her out.

They were still struggling hard against each other when they suddenly caught sight of me in the doorway. All at once, everyone fell deathly quiet.

Teresa's clothes were a little disheveled. She stared at me in shock.

"Tracy? What are you doing at the door?"

Meanwhile, Riven's face looked absolutely ashen. Teresa's lipstick mark was on his cheek.

"It's not what you think, Tracy," he blurted. "I didn't—"

I just shook my head and said, "I don't mind. Also, you were wrong earlier. You've already been returned."

Jett took one step forward behind me. The smile on his face was as warm as the sun, but the words he said were chillingly harsh.

"You must be No. 0201, Riven Sterling. Hi, I'm No. 0204, Jett Corvus. I heard that you were an incubus who didn't know how to behave like one.

"The shop owner asked me to tell you that your binding contract has already been transferred to me. So, you may leave now."

Jett smiled even wider as he looked at Riven's deathly-pale face.

"You're nothing but a defective product who gave your owner a terrible experience."