Midnight, Tingzhi Manor, A City.
The master bedroom on the second floor stood ajar, and faint whispers from the maids drifting past could still be heard.
“Move it, move it, clean faster! The young master will be here in ten minutes!”
“If there’s even a speck of dust that makes him cough harder, we’re all dead meat!”
On the bed, the woman stirred, groaning and clutching her head in pain as she slowly sat up. Looking around the extravagantly decorated but completely unfamiliar room, she froze.
In the next second, memories that didn’t belong to her came flooding into her head.
She’d somehow landed inside a novel—a book she once made fun of nonstop while sneaking snacks during a midnight kitchen binge. Its title? “The Sickly Beauty’s Descent Into Darkness” — a novel where basically everyone ended up a total mess.
She remembered it clearly—right before the kitchen blew up, she’d blurted out, “Stop bullying the brother already, the poor guy’s so pitiful. If the heroine doesn’t want him, I’ll take him. Let me have him already!”
Then came the explosion. Next thing she knew? Boom. Inside the story.
As if being dropped into a book wasn’t bad enough, she’d landed as the notoriously toxic supporting character—the original wife of the male lead who was fated to meet a gruesome ending.
Now that she thought about it... What was the final fate of that villainess again?
Oh right. The female lead refused to be the other woman, and since the wife refused to divorce the male lead, he ended up cutting her into pieces and dumping her into the river.
Sophia Lane felt the chill crawl up her neck again and swallowed hard. She looked down at the scandalously seductive lingerie clinging to her body—a Victoria’s Secret number her “bestie” had probably picked out—and frantically tried to piece together what was going on.
The Wests and the Lanes had a history—family friends since forever. She and Ethan West had been matched as kids in an arranged marriage.
They even named this place after them.
And today just happened to be the one-month mark of their wedding. Ethan had been avoiding her the whole time, but Mr. West forced his son to show up and sleep at the manor tonight.
And that’s exactly why the og villainess, not one to accept defeat, had taken her friend’s terrible advice and tried to seduce Ethan and "seal the deal."
The result? Ethan West had gripped her neck like a damn warning, nearly suffocating her, coldly telling her never to try that kind of crap again—then stormed right out.
“...”
Sophia shivered for real this time. Staying here felt like asking for a death sentence. Without hesitation, she got up and hurried to the walk-in closet.
The skin-tight black mesh bodysuit her friend had picked was nearly impossible to take off—she ended up just tearing it apart in desperation and throwing on a long camel trench coat, wrapping herself up tight.
She grabbed a random purse off the endless rows of designer bags and stuffed it with essentials—IDs, bank cards, a wad of cash.
Then she called a cab and snuck out the door.
Are you kidding? Sickly yandere types are only fun in fiction. In reality, she’d sprint a whole kilometer straight if that meant surviving—heck, she’d disappear off the face of the planet if she could.If she had landed in the female lead’s shoes, she could’ve dealt with it. Worst case, the guy just locks her up for a bit—nothing a little sweet talk can’t fix.
But nope. The universe had to throw her into the body of the crazy villainess who ends up chopped into pieces by the male lead...
Yeah, no thanks. She was done. Peace out.
Messing with him? Big nope. Staying alive? Big yes.
Standing by the curb waiting for her ride, Sophia Lane had already pulled up her chat with Ethan West, dragging old memories from the original host’s head.
[Sophia Lane: Ethan, let’s get a divorce.]
[Sophia Lane: I’ve thought it through. I know you married me 'cause of family pressure. It’s fine. If you don’t like me, I’ll talk to my dad tomorrow and hand over the papers.]
[Sophia Lane: You’re great, I’m not. Forget me, find someone who makes you happy. Wishing you all the best.]
Right after hitting send, she noticed a cab speeding toward her and waved frantically, dialing Michael Lane’s number as she did.
The car pulled up. Sophia jumped in, slammed the door, and spoke casually to the driver. “Hey, could you take me to Jinting Manor? Thanks.”
Just as she finished, her call got picked up.
“Zhi Zhi, what’s wrong?”
With a forced sob in her voice, she said, “Dad, I want a divorce.”
To make herself cry for real, Sophia twisted her thigh hard. The pain did the trick—tears instantly welled up.
“Dad, Ethan… he’s awful. He’s been bullying me non-stop, and today he hit me. He even threatened me, told me to stay out of his sight.”
Totally lost in her Oscar-worthy performance, she didn’t realize the car hadn’t moved an inch. It was pitch-black inside, and yeah—turns out she wasn’t alone. A man was sitting right next to her. She hadn’t noticed.
Both men stared at her intently. The one beside her? Stone-faced. The one driving? Looking like he’d just seen a ghost.
Meanwhile, Michael Lane, always the doting father, was already fuming on the other end.
“What? He hit you?! Does it still hurt? I’m sending someone to pick you up right now! Forget the marriage—we’re done!”
The pinch still stung, so Sophia was rubbing her leg like mad while saying, “I’m okay, I got out. I’m already on my way back.”
But she noticed something weird—nothing outside the window had changed. Still the same spot, and it was still dark. That’s when she snapped at the driver.
“Sir, can we please go already? I booked a ride that’s supposed to be fast. It’s impossible to find another one around here.”
“Ethan did that to you? Unbelievable! Don’t worry, honey, I’m heading over to have a word with his dad right now,” Michael was still fuming on the other end of the line.
Panicked at the thought of her story falling apart, Sophia blurted, “No! You can’t do that!”Sophia Lane realized she'd overreacted a bit, so her tone softened instantly. "Dad, don’t worry about upsetting anyone. It's fine, really. Let’s just handle the divorce quietly."
"When I was younger, I honestly don’t know why I was so into him. He’s got a disability, his temper’s weird, and he’s super high-maintenance—I still liked him. But now? I finally get it. Him not being able to perform, that’s something I really can’t—"
"Ahem… *cough*…"
A weak cough suddenly echoed beside her, cutting her off mid-sentence. Sophia froze. She had completely forgotten—there was someone sitting in the seat right next to her.
Startled, she scooted away on instinct. The car hadn’t even turned on its lights, so she could only make out a vague silhouette in the dark.
Right then, the driver, clearly knowing what to do, flicked on the soft, warm overhead light.
The moment Sophia saw who was beside her, she literally forgot to breathe for a second.
The man was dressed in a plain white silk shirt and sleek black trousers, but somehow still looked way more put-together than anyone from a boring insurance ad.
He had this aloof, stunning, almost unreal kind of beauty. Cold. Elegant. Untouchably handsome.
Too pretty, honestly.
And yeah, “pretty” might sound wrong for a guy, but in his case, it totally worked.
His skin was so pale it practically glowed next to the white shirt—so much so that Sophia couldn’t tell what was lighter: the shirt or him.
Then the man turned to look at her, sharp eyes cool as ice, lips parting just enough.
"Enjoying the view?"
As a certified face enthusiast, Sophia was clearly caught red-handed. She forced out a nervous laugh, opened the door in a hurry, and started mumbling, "My bad, wrong car."
After sophia got out, the driver finally unbuckled, turned toward the man in the back and said, "Mr. West, how should I handle Mrs. West…?"
Ethan West, still casually scrolling through his WeChat, barely lifted his gaze. "Bring her back."
"Understood."
