Chapter One: The End of Kim Wan

Rain fell softly on Seoul, cloaking the city in a misty blur of gray. Neon lights flickered dimly through the drizzle, casting reflections on puddled sidewalks. Kim Wan, a quiet but brilliant senior at Haneul High School, walked alone, her schoolbag dragging slightly from her shoulder.

She was numb. The words she’d overheard still rang in her ears.

“She’s so easy to manipulate. I only stayed with her to win that scholarship. Come on, I’d never date someone like her seriously.”

Those had been her boyfriend Minho’s words—spoken so casually, like she was a character in a game he had already won. The betrayal cut deep, not just because of his lies, but because she had dared to believe someone could love her without conditions.

She kept walking. Her fingers trembled around her umbrella handle. The city moved on as though nothing had happened.

In her mind, a dull, spiraling thought took root: Maybe I was never the main character of my own life.

Lost in despair, she didn’t see the speeding headlights. A deafening horn, a blinding light—then—

Darkness.

When she opened her eyes, everything was wrong.

The sky above her was impossibly blue, almost too vivid to be real. She blinked, disoriented, as flower petals—soft, pink, and glowing faintly—drifted down from a cherry tree that shimmered unnaturally in the sunlight.

She sat up, gasping.

Her hands were delicate, pale, with fingers too elegant to be hers. Her school uniform was gone. Instead, she wore a flowing gown of crimson velvet, laced with black embroidery and jeweled chains.

Then came the voice.

“Lady Evelyne! You mustn’t sit on the ground! What if His Grace sees you like this?”

Kim Wan blinked. “...Who?”

A maid with tear-streaked cheeks knelt beside her. “You—you collapsed after the Duke refused your invitation. Please, return to the manor before anyone sees.”

Kim Wan rose shakily to her feet. In the reflection of a nearby fountain, she saw a face she didn’t recognize: silver hair cascading like moonlight, blood-red lips, and eyes—amber and cold, filled with cruelty.

Suddenly, memories that weren’t hers flooded her mind.

Evelyne Rosenthal. The villainess of a popular romance novel: Captured by Beautiful, Obsessed Flowers. The woman every reader despised. Poisonous, manipulative, ruthless. She had tormented the heroine, cursed the male leads, and died in disgrace.

A shiver ran down Kim Wan’s spine.

She was inside the novel.

And worse—

She was the villainess.

“No,” she whispered, her fists clenching. “Not again. I won’t be a pawn this time. Not a stepping stone. Not disposable.”

Let them call her evil. Let the world fear her. In this story, she would rewrite everything. She would crush the obsession disguised as love, burn the false heroes, and carve a path of her own.

Her lips curled into a smirk.

“If I’m the villainess… I’ll become the most powerful one they’ve ever seen.”

And with that, Evelyne—no, Kim Wan—took her first step toward vengeance, in a world where beauty was a weapon and love was laced with thorns.

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