A harsh dazzling white light cut through the evening shadows—a truck speeding down the road, its headlights illuminating her path with an intense, blinding light. She froze, the world around her fading into a field of brilliant white. In the next instant, the truck collided with her.
The impact sent her body hurtling backward, as if she were weightless, flying through the air. She crashed against the hood of a parked car, the force of her fall shattering the windshield. Glass shards sparkled as they scattered around her, glinting against the rough pavement where she finally landed, still and motionless.
Dazed and barely conscious, she lay on the dirty, rain-soaked road. Her eyes, open and unfocused, caught a glimpse of the sky above. A soft, fluffy cloud floated across her line of sight, its shape oddly familiar and comforting. It looked like a little rabbit, bounding across the heavens, lost in a tranquil, endless journey.
She watched it with a curious detachment, noticing how it drifted gently to the right, growing smaller until it vanished from her view entirely. Slowly, her eyelids grew heavy, and the world dimmed around her. Her vision faded to black.
A surge of thoughts raced through her mind as consciousness slipped away. "Why now?" she wondered, her voice weak and tinged with bitterness. "Why did it have to be now, when everything was finally going to be like the moon and stars for me?"
A pang of regret filled her. "There was a time when I wished for death… and it never came. And now, just when I'm ready to start living—really living—it's taken away from me. I didn't even get to enjoy a single taste of the life I had worked so hard to build."
Fragments of her unfulfilled dreams lingered in her mind, mocking her. "I never even got to experience half of what I wanted. I never dated a man, never kissed anyone… and now I'm going to die without even that. A virgin… How unfair is that?" The thought made her laugh bitterly, and tears stung her eyes.
"God," she muttered inwardly, her heart heavy, "why now? Why, when my life was just about to begin?"
Only this morning, she had felt as though the universe was finally granting her a fresh start, as if a new chapter were about to unfold. After years of struggling and feeling stuck, she had finally passed the exam that had haunted her, the one hurdle that had kept her from moving forward.
Her career was finally going to take off, her dreams were within reach. She had wanted to celebrate with her colleagues, to share her joy with them, and had left the office on a quick coffee run to surprise everyone with warm drinks.
But fate, it seemed, had other plans. If only she hadn't left the building. If only she'd stayed inside, safely tucked away, her dreams might still be alive. The bitterness of that cruel irony chewed at her as her senses faded.
When her eyes opened again, she found herself in an entirely different, strange place. She was standing alone in a vast, featureless stretch, surrounded by a whiteness so bright it was bewildering. There was no ground beneath her, no sky above, just an endless, glowing void that stretched in all directions.
As she took in her surroundings, she noticed a strange sight floating before her—a small, blue, translucent window that seemed to hover mid-air, like a computer notification. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to make sense of the words written across it:
|| To all the readers who are grieving over Caelestis Lancaster's death. I deeply apologize, but this character always deserved death in my eyes of justice. Although he was a good leader, a good friend, and perhaps a dutiful son, he was never a good lover, friend, or partner to the female lead. Despite his accomplishments, his flaws were insurmountable.
However, if you sympathize with him despite his sins, I have an offer for you.
Would you like to change the destiny of Caelestis Lancaster?
Yes | No ||
The name Caelestis Lancaster sent a chill through her. She knew exactly who he was—the infamous villain of "Revenge Is Her Only Desire", a web novel she'd been captivated by. Caelestis was the dark, complex antagonist who had become obsessed with the female lead, a commoner who wanted nothing to do with him.
In his twisted pursuit of her, he had kidnapped her, forcing her into a nightmarish marriage that was doomed to fail. He was powerful and ruthless, the embodiment of every romantic villain she'd ever read about.
Yet despite his cruelty, he had intrigued her. There was something undeniably tragic about his character—a complexity that hinted at vulnerability, perhaps even regret. In fact, his ending had upset her so much that she'd sent a heated email to the author, demanding justice. She'd insisted that Caelestis deserved a better ending, a chance at redemption.
Now, here was that chance, offered to her in the form of a bizarre prompt floating before her eyes. She reached out instinctively, but her hand passed right through it as though it were made of air. She took a step back, her mind racing, but the window stayed fixed in her vision, following her everywhere she moved.
"What the hell is going on?" she muttered, rubbing her temples in confusion. "Is this some kind of joke?" Her voice echoed faintly in the emptiness, and she half-expected someone to answer her—but there was only silence.
"Caelestis Lancaster… Change his destiny?" she whispered, more to herself than anything else. "What kind of nonsense is this? He's a fictional character! How am I supposed to change his fate?" She closed her eyes, hoping the strange message would disappear. But when she opened them, it was still there, the words floating before her, unchanging.
"What should I do?" she murmured. A part of her wanted to ignore it, to let whatever strange forces had conjured this vision simply fade away. But another part of her—the same part that had fought for her dreams, that had always longed for something more than her dull life—felt a strange thrill at the thought of stepping into that world.
She took a deep breath, her mind racing with possibilities. She'd spent so much of her life confined to books and studying, always pushing herself to achieve something greater. And now, here was an opportunity that defied explanation, a chance to enter a world of intrigue and adventure, a world she had only ever read about. Her heart pounded with a mixture of excitement and fear.
The blue text changed suddenly, startling her:
|| Would you like to change the destiny of Caelestis Lancaster?
Yes | No ||
"Yes." -