"So naive, Melanie. So stupid."

Those were the last words I heard before a bullet ended my life. Betrayed by my best friend and murdered by the man she loved, I thought the darkness of death was final.

Instead, I woke up inside a web novel.

Not as the beloved heroine. Not even as a lucky side character. I opened my eyes as **Seraphina Helene Valemont**—the spoiled, doomed villainess destined to be brutally executed for treason by her own husband, the notoriously cold and terrifying Duke Draven Everfrost.

Armed with complete knowledge of the original plot, my survival strategy was simple:

1. Avoid making fatal mistakes.
2. Avoid the high-society enemies.
3. Above all else, **AVOID THE DUKE.**

Except, the story refuses to follow the script.

The monstrous Duke who was supposed to despise me is suddenly dragging me out of blood wars, tossing me swords to fight my own battles, and lazily controlling my limbs with dark magic just to mock my executioners. The events I memorized by heart are fracturing. Deeply buried political secrets are clawing their way to the surface, and the future I relied on changes with every passing sunrise.

As deadly conspiracies threaten the empire and old legends refuse to stay buried, I am caught between a fate I desperately need to escape… and a demon masquerading as a man whom I was never supposed to trust.

But the deeper I dig into the dark history of the North, the more terrifying one question becomes: *What if the most dangerous thing in this story was never the villainess?*

Because some monsters are not born.
Some monsters choose to chain themselves.
And some names should have remained forgotten.

**[MISSION UPDATE: SURVIVE.]**
**[WARNING: ORIGINAL STORYLINE HAS DEVIATED.]**
**[WARNING: UNKNOWN ENTITY DETECTED.]**
**[CURRENT RISK LEVEL: CRITICAL.]**

---

**~Author's Note:~** *First time writing a long, serialized story! Thank you so much for your patience, support, and love while I learn, improve, and build this world!*

**THE READER'S PACT **

* **35 FREE CHAPTERS.** 0 excuses. Jump straight into the chaos!
* **Kindly add this book to your Library** and Draven will personally protect you from Stephen's schemes.
* Refuse... and Malaki wins. The choice is yours.

** THE VOTE REWARDS **

*  **Power Stones** = Extra bonus chapters unlocked!

*  **Golden Tickets** = Mass chapter drops to satisfy your binge-reading!

This is my official **WSA 2026** entry. Vote for the Everfrosts today... or watch Stephen try his luck again.

**[Daily Chapter Releases — Never Miss a Beat]**

**Connect with the Lore:**
 Instagram: **@merah_writes**
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I stared up at the man wearing my husband's face, the golden glow in his eyes reflecting a terrifying, unyielding hunger that sent a shiver straight through my marrow. The heavy oak doors of the master study seemed to press in on us from all sides, the silence stretching so thick and suffocating that I could hear the erratic, frantic rhythm of my own heartbeat echoing in my ears. Vael'ethor. The forbidden, dead city buried deep beneath the cursed mountains—the ancestral cradle of the ancient bloodlines, and the only place on earth where the veil between the living and the dead was thin enough to touch the beyond.


Chapter 179 - Core test