Ruelle Yin slammed her phone down on the bed, with gritted teeth and eyes wide with rage. "Who the hell writes a romance where the female lead nearly dies every five chapters and still calls it love?!"
The online comment section was no help.
Commenter 1 "You just don't get it, sis, the ML is traumatized."
Commenter 2 "She's lucky to be with him!"
Commenter 3 "The car accident wasn't his fault, duh!"
Ruelle scowled and typed furiously.
^ He watched her drown and left.
In another scene he "rescued" her only when he knew his company shares will drop. You all need therapy. Not fiction^•
She tossed her phone aside and paced around her cramped apartment still angrily muttering to herself "Who names a novel Fated Hearts: Love Beyond Death and then writes about a man colder than the morgue and a woman who's allergic to self-respect?"
Ruelle had been bore scrolling for two hours, hate reading each ridiculous plot twist of the webnovel.
She started the novel ironically, laughing at the heroine's terrible luck and even worse decisions. But somewhere around Chapter 29, where the FL fell down the stairs after being poisoned by her own maid, it stopped being funny.
"No personality, no brain, and no insurance," Ruelle muttered. "What's worse is she always survives by miracle or accident.The girl is like a cockroach of romance fiction."
She sighed, flopping onto her bed with the grace of someone emotionally wounded by bad literature. Rain pattered against the window as her phone lit up with a new chapter notification.
"Oh, no. Not again." But her thumb tapped anyway.
Halfway through reading how the ML saved the FL from a runaway truck only to blame her for being "weak," Ruelle screamed into her pillow.
"I swear if I ever meet that author !!"
A blinding flash lit up the room. Then~
BANG.
Glass shattered. Brakes screeched. Metal crunched.
And then… nothing.
----
Ruelle's first thought was: Damn, this is a soft pillow.
Her second thought: Why does it smell like jasmine and sandalwood?
Her third thought: Why is someone screaming in classical Chinese?
Her eyes snapped open. Instead of her messy little room, she was staring at a luxurious crystal chandelier swaying above a four-poster bed draped in sheer lace.
"What in fresh K-drama hell ?"
"Miss Jiang! Miss Jiang yue, please don't move! The doctor is on his way!"
Ruelle turned her head to find a girl in a maid outfit kneeling beside the bed, eyes filled with panic and tears.
Jiang… Yue?
The name echoed in her head like a warning bell. It couldn't be.
She sat up, only to feel a sharp sting in her shoulder and, holy hell there's even bruises on her ribs.
She limped to a nearby mirror, gripping the edge of the dresser. Her reflection stared back.
Same black eyes, same heart-shaped face—but different. Softer. Prettier. More refined.
And definitely not hers.
"No. No-no-no. This can't be…" Her voice trailed off as memories not her own flooded in.
Being pushed down stairs. Drinking poisoned tea. Almost drowning in the family pond.
The same damn truck.
She gasped "Oh my God,
"No way," she whispered, her throat dry. "I transmigrated?"
No. No, no, no... not this book. NOT THIS BOOK! This is the one with 127 near-death experiences, 5 betrayals, and a three-year coma! I only left one hateful review—ONE!"
She staggered back and collapsed onto the marble floor like a stunned potato.
Jiang yue was kneeling, hands folded in prayer, tears in her eye
> "Dear Author, Your Majesty, Your Excellency, Grandmaster of Words"
"I WAS WRONG!"
"I was blind, stupid, ungrateful, and entirely too bold for someone with a brain the size of a shrimp!"
"I criticized your genius work with greasy fingers while eating leftover noodles. Who did I think I was? Hemingway?!"
"You wrote brilliance, and I... I had the audacity to call the FL dumb?! Look at me now! Who's the dumb one now, huh? IT'S ME!"
"I left that 1-star review with the arrogance of a keyboard warrior. I even said, oh heavens forgive me.'"
"I deserve to be hit by every truck in the Truck-kun universe!"
She crawled to the bed dramatically, clutching the silk sheets like a tortured heroine in a soap opera.
"But please… have mercy."
"I swear on my library card and the three brain cells I have left, I will never criticize a novel again!"
"Just write me out! Let me get hit by a falling chandelier, a poisoned snack, an overdramatic mother-in-law! Anything! Just—REMOVE ME!"
She sobbed. Ugly sobs, Nose running. Hair clinging to her forehead.
"I'M SORRY FOR BEING A HATER! I'M A FAN NOW. I'LL GIVE YOU ALL THE STARS, ALL THE LIKES AND EVEN DONATE COINS!"
"I PROMISE I'LL EVEN READ THE SPIN-OFFS!"
She sniffled and collapsed onto the floor.
"...Please... I'm not strong enough for 300 chapters of this."
She glanced at the ornate decor, the tall bookshelves filled with poetry collections, the photo frame beside the bed…
And then she saw it.
HIM.
Cold, aloof, devastatingly handsome. Jet-black hair slicked back. Silver-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. A navy-blue CEO suit tailored to perfection.
Li Zhenkai.
The male lead. The emotionally constipated, emotionally unavailable, emotionally hazardous man who made the FL's life a living telenovela.
"Oh, God," she whispered. "I'm Jiang Yue. I'm her. I'm the dumb female lead."
She collapses dramatically and starts begging again
"Dear Author! Glorious Creator! I'm sorry for insulting your divine plot!"
"You gave us poetic pain, heartbreaking betrayal, top-tier angst and I, a lowly reader with no moral compass, dared to mock it!"
"Your work was misunderstood! I am the clown, the villain, the brainless hater!"
"Please delete me from your world, I don't want to survive 300 chapters of face-slapping and emotional trauma!"
Then she heared a sound in her mind.....
SYSTEM: [Ding!] Host detected. Booting self-awareness protocol...
System in a cheerful, mocking tone
"Welcome, Host. You are currently logged into: 'Tragic Female Lead 3.0 – Bonus Misery Edition.' Congratulations."
Jiang Ruelle snapping her head up
"...No. No no no. There's a system? You mean this is serious?!"
System replied "Very. You are now Jiang Yue, the unlucky heroine personally cursed by fate, karma, and your own big mouth."
Jiang yue started wailing "I was joking! I didn't mean it! I was tired and bitter and the male lead annoyed me! I even said the plot was too dramatic—WHICH IT WASN'T, I SWEAR!"
System dryly replied "Your exact words were, and I quote: 'The only good thing about this story is that it's free.'"
Jiang Ruelle throws a pillow at the air
"STOP QUOTING ME!"
System:
"Host, if it makes you feel better, 14,732 other readers agreed with you."