My Roommate Starved for a Rich Marriage

In my past life, news from high society circulated about a single, wealthy heiress who searched for a single man who could complete 14 days of inedia. My roommate, Chad Kranz, was convinced that she secretly searched for her future husband. Chad wanted to become rich and powerful quickly, and he did not hesitate to shut himself inside our dorm room to fast. On the night of his 14th day, he went into shock and stopped breathing. The sight scared me so much that I forced half a bottle of glucose down his throat, and I carried him on my back to the emergency room late in the night. Chad survived, and he gained 300 pounds from imbalanced hormones and became paralyzed. His family vented their anger at me in front of the media. They shouted, "There was only half a night left! If you had not made him fail with that mouthful of glucose, my son would have become the son‑in‑law of a wealthy family! You stopped my family from becoming rich! We will make you pay with your life!" They forced me to give up my placement in postgraduate studies, and they seized my family's property. They even pushed me toward death by demanding millions in compensation. When I opened my eyes next, I had returned to the 14th day of Chad's inedia process. He sat cross‑legged on the bed while he mumbled with reddened eyes, "I'm about to achieve a breakthrough with a new life. Anyone who stops me from marrying into a wealthy family will be punished!" This time, I slowly chewed my hard‑boiled egg and said, "Do not worry, Chad. I'll be the first to stop anyone from preventing you from marrying into a wealthy family!" Chapter 1 Chad Kranz turned to stare at me. His cheekbones had sunken, and his lips had dried. He wore an online‑bought knockoff white groom's suit, a gold‑plated clip‑on bowtie around his neck, and a knockoff gold watch bought off the streets on his wrist while he sat cross‑legged in the middle of his bed. "Evan." He lifted his chin slightly. "Keep that eggshell far away from me. The stink of food will sully my pure being." Back in my past life, it was at this moment that I did everything I could to save Chad from dying. I succeeded, and my family paid the price, and they died for it. This time, I would not save him. "All right. I will throw them away right now." I wrapped the eggshells in tissue and walked toward the balcony. "Wait." Alec Carter, who slept on the top bunk, rolled his eyes at me. "Do not throw it on the balcony. The stench will fill the room. Throw it in the corridor." In my past life, Alec was the first one to run when Chad faced mishaps. This time, he seemed concerned. "Fine." I walked out with the tissue‑wrapped eggshell and threw it in the bin in the corridor. At this point in my past life, Chad's heartbeat started to become irregular, and I made him consume half a bottle of glucose, which saved his life. The price for saving him was my family's death. This time, I vowed not to step in, no matter what happened. I wanted everyone to know that Chad was the one who refused help. When I returned to the dorm, Chad was getting Alec to tape the mask tightly all over his face, leaving only his nostrils exposed. "I will not lose any vital energy this way," Chad nodded as he explained. Alec said, "Do not forget about me once you get rich by marrying into the Langfords." "Do not worry. You will be my right‑hand man in the future." I took out my phone and clicked into our class group chat. "Chad, do you need me to send a text to the group chat? It would be quite a sight if the entire school sent you off when the Langfords came to pick you up." Chad's eyes lit up. "Do it." His chin lifted slightly. "You can say I have completed the Langfords' inedia trial, and I will be welcomed by them tomorrow. No one should disturb my progress, and anyone who does shall pay the price." I typed everything he said and sent the text. It created a commotion in the group. Many doubted him, and some laughed out loud. Alec was about to speak when Chad spoke first. "Ignore them. Once the Langfords arrive in the Rolls‑Royce tomorrow, no one will be laughing." I read through the texts in the group chat and screenshot all of them to keep in my cloud. At 2 a.m., Chad's breathing started to become erratic. Loud beeping came from the watch on his wrist, indicating that something was wrong with his heartbeat. Alec jumped down from his top bunk. "Chad? What is wrong?" Chad convulsed on his bed, and Alec panicked. He grabbed a bag of consumable glucose from his drawer and stuffed it into my hand. "What are you waiting for, Evan? You are the closest to Chad. Feed him the glucose!" Jack Wentworth, who slept in the opposite bed, got up and joined Alec to drag me toward Chad. "What are you waiting for, Evan? Are you going to watch him die?" "But I cannot…" Tears brimmed in my eyes as I cowered and shook my head vigorously. "Mrs. Kranz warned us that anyone who interrupted Chad's effort prevented the Kranzes from enjoying the fortune of a millionaire, and that person would pay with their family's life. I cannot afford that price. Both of you are braver than I am. Either one of you should feed him the glucose." I wiped my tears while I secretly turned on my phone's video camera and concealed it under my shirt. "Stop pretending to be a coward!" Alec grabbed me by the shirt angrily. "If you do not feed him today, and anything happens to Chad, our entire dorm will stand as witnesses against you for not saving him." "Alec is right. You are jealous that Chad will marry into a rich family." Jack tried to blackmail me morally. Chad suddenly sprang up from his bed and slapped away Alec's hand. "Get away from me! No one is allowed to touch me!" His eyes rolled as he protectively covered the mask tapped onto his face. He growled from his throat, "My pure physical body… My gold watch… No one is allowed to take my fortune from me!" I watched as Alec and Jack screamed, and they ran back to hide under their covers. Chapter 2 Footsteps were heard from outside, and our door opened. Our resident advisor, Sally Chutnam, rushed in with Dr. Leroy and a nurse. "What is going on? The dorm next door heard a commotion and called the police." Sally noticed Chad convulsing on the bed. "What is going on? Take a look at him, quick." Dr. Leroy rushed forward and pulled up Chad's eyelids to check his eyes. He turned back to roar at the nurse, "Get the glucose drop ready for him. His heart can stop at any time if his condition continues." When the nurse held up the infusion tube, Chad suddenly went into a rage. He grabbed a cutter knife and pressed it against his neck, which made everyone back away from him. His eyes were red. "Do not dare touch me. I have made it this far. The Langfords will be here for me tomorrow, and they will make all of you pay if any of you dares to sully my purified body." Dr. Leroy was stunned. Sally became frustrated, and she pointed at me to order, "Evan Jacobs. Is friendship not important to you? You are his roommate. You should get that cutter knife away from him. Help the doctor hold him down. Can you bear the consequences if anything happened to him?" I teared up right away when faced with the resident advisor's unreasonable accusation. "But… I do not have the courage." I did not move, and I trembled as I took out my phone from my pocket to play the audio recording of Mrs. Kranz that I had recorded earlier. "My son is practising inedia voluntarily. I will kill the family of any idiot who dares touch him, do you hear me?" Her shrill voice filled the entire dorm. I choked back a sob while I tried to hold back my tears. "Miss Chutnam… His mother already issued a death threat. I am just an ordinary student. This is a responsibility I cannot bear." Sally's face turned pale, and she had no idea what else to say. Alec quickly called Chad's mother and turned on the speaker. Her roar came through the phone again. "Watch over Chad, Alec. If any of these idiots ruin this for him, you can forget about getting anything out of my family." "This is ridiculous." Dr. Leroy flung his medical box onto the ground. "His blood sugar is so low that his heart might stop anytime. All of you are killing him by indulging this." Chad pointed at Dr. Leroy. "You are a lousy university doctor. Can you get me married into the Langfords? Get lost." Dr. Leroy called him a basket case before he picked up his medical box and left. "Make sure to note this in my outpatient records. I am washing my hands of this." Sally hesitated for several seconds before she finally left with a sullen expression when she saw Chad still pressing the cutter knife against his main artery. I had put my phone on silent mode because the group chat had been active all this time. Everyone talked about Chad and the screaming they heard from the building next door. I uploaded all of the audio recording, the video recording of Sally forcing me to go to Chad, and the pictures onto my cloud. When the alarm for midnight rang, it signified the end of the 14th day. Chad fell onto the bed, and his hand refused to let go of the cutter knife. Alec shouted into the phone, "Mrs. Kranz. It has been 14 days. Chad did it." Cheering came from the other end of the phone. "My Chad did it. You are my money maker. A wealthy family is waiting for us. Millions of dollars are waiting for us. I have finally made it." I wrapped myself tight under my covers and flipped over to face the wall. When Chad opened his eyes, he stared at the ceiling and said, "I will make you kneel and lick my shoe tomorrow." I smiled. If he was that confident, we would wait and see what would happen. The next day, a row of Rolls‑Royces parked right outside our dormitory building. Everyone staying in the building leaned on their windows to look down, and they saw one bodyguard standing beside each of the six cars downstairs. In my past life, they came for Chad the same way too, and this time, Chad managed to make it. Back in our dorm room, Alec helped Chad dress up. Chad had changed into a bright red collared shirt, and it was loose because he was too thin. He kept looking in the mirror left and right. "I was born to be rich. Now that I have managed to get past 14 days of suffering, I will be at the top of the hierarchy from now on." I changed and got off my bed. Chapter 3 Ten minutes later, the bodyguards knocked on our dorm room. "Mr. Chad Kranz, the car is ready for you. Please come with us." Chad stood up from his bed with difficulty, and he frowned when he glanced at the door. "The floor is filthy. Mom, lie on the ground." Greta was taken aback. "And you." Chad turned to look at me. "Both of you should lie on the ground so that I can walk out by stepping on you. I do not want my feet dirtied. It is bad luck to step into the Langfords that way." Chad swept his gaze across the dorm and continued giving orders with arrogance. "Three of you and my mom should lie on the ground for me to step on. I do not want to bring bad luck to the Langfords with dirty feet." Silence filled the dorm as Alec and Jack froze. They wanted to stay on Chad's good side, and it was insulting to act as his human carpet in front of the bodyguards. "Chad, how about we get two pieces of clothing and carpet the floor with them instead?" Alec laughed dryly to ease the tension. "What is wrong? I am about to become the son‑in‑law of the Langfords. Are my orders too good for you?" Chad sneered. "If you are not willing to do what I say, forget it. From now on, you can forget about benefitting from the Langfords." Greta, who had rushed through the night to arrive at our dorm, sprawled on all fours on the ground right away when she heard Chad's words. "I am willing to do it for you, Son. This is the golden path to marrying into fame and fortune." Chad turned to glare at me. "It is your turn, Evan." I took a step back and said coldly, "We are all university mates here, Chad. There is no way I am willing to be your human carpet." "Get off your high horse, Evan." Alec and Jack started yelling at me. "You are jealous of Chad, which is why you are trying to get his feet dirty and jinx him when he arrives at the Langfords." I started tearing up as I slowly bent my knees unwillingly and crouched at the last position next to the door. "Tsk. Cheap to the bones, are you not?" Chad smiled happily. He stepped on his mother's back barefoot and then onto my shoulder, and he made sure to grind his foot on me with malice. He looked down at me with an air of superiority and said, "On account that you accompanied me for the last 14 days, I want you to kneel the next time we meet and grovel at my feet wherever I go." I hid my face in the dark and smirked silently. Chad was helped downstairs by the bodyguards while the students downstairs took pictures and gossiped about what was happening. Greta did not leave with the convoy. She dashed into our dorm room and pointed at my bunk. "That bed will be Chad's betrothal gift. You need to move all your things tonight." I had already prepared my luggage, and I started to pack. Before I finished, the resident advisor, Sally, appeared. She stood at the door and looked at Greta, who ordered Alec to put wedding decorations in the dorm room. "Evan, please step out with me for a moment." I followed her to the corner of the corridor, and she handed me a document stating that I would give up my postgraduate placement. "The Langfords are a powerful family. The university has decided to give Chad the postgraduate spot as a favor to him. Sign the papers." I did not take them. "Why should I? I earned that spot by being top of my course for three consecutive years. Chad did not even manage to have CGPA grades good enough for Second Class Lower Honors. Are you not afraid your superiors will investigate this?" Sally sneered. "Investigate this? The Langfords are about to donate a lab building to the university. How do you plan to fight a powerful family when you are a penniless student?" My hand reached into my pocket to secretly press the recording function on my phone, and I said through clenched teeth, "I will not sign it. I will report all of you for doing this if I have to." Sally had a falling out with me. "Go ahead and do it. I will make sure that your graduation thesis will not pass the review. I will get your national award rescinded for misconduct and put it in your file as a permanent record. You will sign those papers, by hook or by crook." I pretended to be scared silly by trembling and tearing up. "All right. I will sign the document." When Sally was not looking, I quickly jotted down the code 'XP' while signing my name. It was a code indicating that I was threatened, and I inked an imperfect fingerprint next to my name. Sally grabbed the document from me and stuffed it into her bag without checking it. "At least you know what is good for you." She walked away with her heels clicking in the distance. After I was sure she had left, I slowly stood up straight, and the fear on my face vanished. I took out my phone to save the audio I had recorded, and I left the dorm room with my luggage without looking back. When I walked past Alec, he held several paper bags from luxury brands. "What are all these?" Alec waved his phone in the air. "These are congratulatory presents for Chad. The Langfords are having an appreciation banquet the day after tomorrow, and I am attending it with him to gain worldly experience. I bought these specially for the occasion." "You bought them? Where did you get the money?" "I borrowed money. This is a small amount compared to what I will get if Chad marries into the Langfords and rewards me." Jack refused to be humiliated as a human carpet, and he feared Chad would seek revenge. He used the excuse of wanting to focus on his postgraduate exam and applied instantly to be transferred to another dorm room to stay away from trouble. As for me, I took one last look at the dorm room I had stayed in for four years, and I left with my luggage for my newly rented condo. After unpacking, I received a text from the Langfords' housekeeper. "[Mr. Evan Jacobs, the Langfords would like to invite you to the Inedia Appreciation Party held the day after tomorrow, as you are a witness to Mr. Chad Kranz's inedia process. We will be making an important announcement on that day.]" I put my phone away after reading the message. The show was about to begin. Chapter 4 The appreciation party was held at Remont Villa. The front gates were fully parked with luxury cars, and all the waiters welcomed the guests in matching uniforms. Chad was seated in a gold‑rimmed wheelchair. He had lost stamina in his legs by fasting for 14 days, and it did not affect his arrogant attitude. He wore a red three‑piece suit and a luxury watch on his wrist. His sleeves glittered from his ruby cufflinks, which must have been loaned to him by the Langfords. He was wheeled around the hall like a display, and businessmen who wanted to get on the good side of the Langfords treated Chad with respect. "You are a man of fortune, Mr. Kranz." "What a bright future you have for joining the Langfords at such a young age." Chad held his head high as he smiled with restraint. His father wore an ill‑fitted suit that still had the brand label sewn at the sleeve opening as he shook hands proudly. Greta wore a red dress and bragged to anyone who would listen that her son was destined for power. The most ridiculous part of the situation was that Chad and his parents accepted gifts. These businessmen gave them cheques, gold bars, and antiques. Greta accepted everything while saying, "Oh, you should not have." Her hands grabbed the gifts faster than her words. I watched everything coldly while I held a glass of juice. These people offered gifts in the hope of getting an in with the Langfords, and they bet on Chad becoming their son‑in‑law. Alec was present as well, and he wore an expensive suit bought with borrowed money from loan sharks. He weaved in and out of the crowd in his shiny leather shoes. When he spotted me, he approached with a glass of wine and bumped me hard on the shoulder, almost splashing the wine in my face. "Hey, what are you doing here, dressed like a construction worker?" He covered his mouth as he laughed. "Are you here for the free food and drinks? You should eat as much as you can. This is the only time a penniless loser like you can enjoy a feast." I smiled without saying anything, and Alec walked away with a grunt. Halfway through the party, Chad got someone to bring me to the main table. "Come here, Evan." I walked up to him. "Kneel." All the businessmen chatting with him turned to look at me. "Bow three times at me as an apology." Chad took a sip of tea. "On my 10th day of inedia, you disgusted me by eating an egg." Greta chimed in, "Chad is right. You should bow in apology. It is already a great honor for a penniless student like you to be here." Everyone whispered among themselves, and I did not kneel. I did not lose my temper. I took a step back and spoke loud enough for everyone present to hear, "A nobody like me is not good enough to kneel to someone as highly positioned as you. I wish you happiness at the Langfords, and I hope you enjoy fame and fortune for the rest of your life." Chad was pleased with my words, and he waved me off. The lights dimmed at 8 p.m., and everyone turned silent as they looked toward the middle of the high stage. A spotlight shone in the center, and an old man slowly walked up the stage. Two men followed behind him, each holding a black box. I recognized him as the main housekeeper of the Langfords, Charles Garth. I had never experienced a party like this before because Chad had been eliminated by the Langfords in my past life for not completing his 14‑day inedia. In this life, the show was about to begin. Chad started trembling with excitement in his wheelchair while Greta grabbed her husband's arm. "It is coming. The proposal. It must be the marriage proposal." His father rubbed his hands together in excitement while he stared at the black boxes. Alec stood on tiptoe to see what was happening, and delight filled his face. The hall became silent with only the faint buzzing of the spotlight. Charles stood in front of the microphone and swept his gaze across the hall. It stopped at Chad. "Among the 47 participants in this round of inedia, only Chad Kranz has been confirmed to have completed it." Chad immediately sat up straight when he was announced as the only victor. His chin lifted higher, and arrogance and wild delight filled his eyes. Greta stood up right away and shouted, "Give us the dowry." Charles did not look at her. He paused before continuing in a calm tone, "I believe everyone has been guessing the reason why the Langfords have been searching for someone who could complete 14 days of inedia. I would like to announce the Langfords' reason behind this to all the guests present today."