Riftan’s POV (Under the Oak Tree Side Story) - Chapter 12: Riftan’s POV

Living for the sole aim of escaping!

‘Light of Rusbella’ was a depressing romance novel.

Wishing for a new life, Asili Rosé was reborn as the daughter of the 8th wife of the Estrian Emperor.

She thought she was born with a golden spoon, but it was actually just a gilded spoon?

Once she realized that nothing but ruin awaited, she found a diary foreshadowing the future…

It foretold Asili’s death by the hands of the Crown Prince, Castor!

…Let’s try to survive first.

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“What can I do for my elder brother?”

“Well.”

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Pale sky blue hair fluttered finely in the wind. He smiled weakly, before parting his dry lips.

“Call my name.”

“…”

My head quickly snapped up.

“Call me… Amoru.”

His fingertips skimmed along my inner wrist.

I...AM...MOB CHARACTER!!!Sigh~My name is Samael, I was an office sla- I mean a worker who worked 9 to 5. It was a daily routine of monotony until one fateful day when I went home only to find my best friend with my girlfriend. Betrayal was the first thing I felt, followed by rage.And after taking ‘care’ of them, My surroundings changed…Looking at my reflection in a mirror, I noticed my appearance had changed. Gone was the face of the disgruntled office worker; instead, “SAMAEL ASHWOOD!!!” a character from a novel I used to read. But this wasn't just any character; I had become him—the sacrificial best friend of the protagonist who was betrayed and died in just the first two chapters.PROTAGONIST DIED!?[Heavenly Destiny System Initializing...][...]

Because of an accident, Max transmigrated to the Lous Land and became a newborn red dragon.

He could’ve just grown up and matured normally, and he would already be at the top of the food chain, but then he obtained the Discipline Makes You Stronger System.

“Congratulations to the host for completing 20 push-ups daily and persisting for one week, bonus reward Red Dragon Physique +100.”

“Congratulations to the host for completing daily swims in the lava and persisting for one week, bonus reward Dragon Breath damage x10.”

“Congratulations to the host for kidnapping one princess a day and persisting for one week, bonus reward Never-falling Golden Gun.”

“Cough, excuse me System, I’m a Dragon, I’m fine without this reward!” Max said hurriedly. Many years later, the name of Max the Red Dragon echoed through the multiverse. Only the mother dragon standing beside tilted her head and said with a puzzled face, “What, what in the world did I give birth to?”

I used to think obsessive male leads were kind of hot. You know—the intense stares, the undying devotion, the way they’d burn the world for the woman they love? Swoon, right?Wrong.That fantasy went up in smoke the moment I woke up in the body of Sonia Mitford—the heroine of The Crimson Devotion, the first obsessive romance fantasy novel I ever read. The one that ended on a mysterious hiatus. The one with Marius Wittelsbach—a charming, possessive psychopath who thinks an ankle shackle is a love language.Now I’m trapped in a velvet-draped prison, shackled to a bedpost like some porcelain doll in a gothic fairytale. And Marius? He’s worse than I remembered. Sweet, soft-spoken... and utterly unhinged.“You don’t need to be afraid. I’ll take care of you.”Translation: I’ll murder anyone who blinks in your direction and serve you tea over their corpse.“Anyone who bothers you... anyone who looks at you the wrong way... I’ll get rid of them for you.”I thought I was playing the role just fine—smiling, nodding, pretending not to be horrified.But then—plot twist! Alessio Slovene, the forgettable side character, walks in looking like a golden retriever knight and drops this bomb: he’s actually the crown prince in disguise. And he’s investigating Marius.Finally—a lifeline. Maybe.Because people are vanishing. The body count is rising. And every time Marius kisses my forehead and calls me “Nia,” I feel one step closer to becoming the tragic heroine in a blood-soaked love story.Obsessive male leads aren’t dreamy.They’re terrifying.And I might be in way over my head.