For those of you reading this, I'm a novelist, a writer, call me what you will. I love creating stories, but I've always wondered what would happen if I ever found myself stuck in a world of my own making. To be honest, I usually dislike the romance genre, but right now, I'm writing one of them—or am I?

This is a twisted tale of a person who is about to experience unimaginable suffering for the rest of their life. Let's see what it brings to our hearts; it should be interesting. If you have the courage to stick with it until the end, please do.

Akira Tsukihara is a struggling romance novelist trapped in a cycle of churning out saccharine, uninspired stories. Her life in a sweltering Japanese apartment is already a constant battle with mediocrity, a struggle compounded by her eerie building security guard and demanding editor. Akira secretly loathes the fluffy, unrealistic tales she churns out, feeling her soul dwindle with every clichéd happy ending she pens.

But then, a shockwave hits her stagnant routine. Her latest novel, "The Fallen Kingdom of Seraphis"—a story she finally thought was getting somewhere—suddenly faces a copyright infringement lawsuit. The accusation? It's an blatant copy of an older, popular novel. Her editor, a bumbling, self-absorbed bear of a man, abandons her, leaving Akira to fight an seemingly insurmountable legal team alone.

A mixture of anger, disbelief, and a desperate need to prove her innocence compels Akira to reluctantly begin reading the allegedly plagiarized work, "Hearts Bound in Starlight and Ruin." As she delves deeper into its pages, far more sinister events begin to unfold. Strange phenomena plague her apartment, from drastic temperature drops in the middle of summer and inexplicable buffering screens to an unsettling feeling of being watched.

Then, a blinding light erupts from her laptop, consuming her whole.

Akira awakens in a world reeking of mud, misery, and medieval despair. Her body is no longer her own but that of a gaunt, oddly white-haired young peasant girl. The horrifying reality dawns on her: she hasn't simply been transported to another world; she has been reincarnated into the very story she detested—a world that reflects the harsh realities she unintentionally created. Her forced fantasy has become a terrifying new reality. Can she survive the stark, unromantic world she unconsciously penned? Or is this the ultimate punishment for a writer who loathed her own creations?

"Please note that any chapters above this are no longer considered canon to the actual story, so feel free to disregard them."


Chapter 5 - Don't Read This