As the male lead, Henry Johnston, forces himself on me, a row of comments suddenly appears before my eyes.

"Henry is about to misunderstand and think Aria drugged him! The angst is about to begin!"

"I'm thrilled just thinking about Henry regretting dearly after Aria dies!"

"Keep up the act, Henry. After she dies, you'll be hugging her corpse and crying every day."

That is when I realize that I am the tragic female lead in a story where I am destined to be tormented until I die.

The readers treat my death as a highlight to push the plot forward. They are counting down to my death.

As I look at Henry, who is panting on top of me, anger courses through me. I grab a table lamp and smash it into him, killing him on the spot.

Who says that the one who dies in a toxic romance story must always be the female lead?

As I struggled to breathe under Henry Johnston's grip, a flood of comments suddenly filled my vision.

"The 'drugged male lead with dubious consent' scene is finally here," one read.

"Yes, this is it! After this, he'll assume Aria drugged him. That's when the whole abuse arc begins. He has no idea that she's sick and dying! Just imagining him drowning in regret after she dies is so satisfying."

"He's such a tragic, devoted character. He'll only realize that he loves her after she's gone. He'll never love anyone else again and will spend the rest of his life regretting it. Why can't I meet a man like that?" another quipped.

"What are you talking about? He marries the second female lead, Willow Keating, later on. He has a son and a daughter, and they live happily ever after. That doesn't sound like he can't love anyone else again to me."

"You don't get it. He doesn't love her. He just misses Aria so much that he uses someone who looks like her as a substitute."

"Is this another one of those abusive tropes with twisted logic? Who even reads this stuff?"

The sheer amount of information snapped my consciousness awake. In that instant, I saw the rest of my bleak and painfully short life.

My name was Aria Rowland. I lived in a novel where the male lead tormented his wife before trying to win her back.

In the original plot, Henry was drugged and walked into the wrong hotel room. That was how he and I ended up spending the night together.

When he woke up, public pressure forced him to marry me.

After the wedding, he treated me with nothing but contempt.

Even the housekeepers followed his lead and sneered at me. They made my life difficult.

After years of daily torment, I developed stomach cancer. I wanted to get treatment abroad, but Henry locked me in the house.

"What are you scheming this time?" he said coldly. "You wanted the title of Mrs. Johnston, and I gave it to you. Isn't that enough? You've always competed with Willow for my attention. Are you trying to copy her now that she's sick?"

I dropped to my knees and begged him. I promised that I just wanted a chance to leave and get treatment, nothing else.

He fell silent for a while before delivering his verdict. "Stop pretending to be sick. Willow needs a healthy kidney. You're not going anywhere. Don't be selfish."

Being locked in that house forced me to miss the best window to treat my cancer. Then, they forcibly took one of my kidneys.

I ended up dying in agony.

…

When I opened my eyes again, I regained my awareness. Henry was breathing raggedly on top of me.

Rage surged through me.

Without hesitation, I grabbed the lamp from the bedside table and slammed it into the back of his head.

His vision went black. His body slumped and fell to the floor.

The comments exploded. "What's going on? What happened to my favorite scene?"

"Why did Henry get knocked out? If this scene's gone, how's the story supposed to continue?"

Dubious consent?

A one-night stand?

Anything done against a woman's will was assault. Coercion. A crime, even.

People might have called it whatever they wanted, but it shouldn't be called "dubious consent".

A criminal like Henry should rot in prison.

I quickly pulled out my phone and dialed 911, but the line was busy. I couldn't get through at all.

I tried calling the number several times, but it yielded the same result each time.

Finally, the number itself showed up as invalid.

I stared at the screen, stunned.

Was this even possible?

Comments started rolling in again. "Did the author change the plot? I swear it wasn't like this the first time I read it."

"How could 911 be an invalid number? That doesn't make sense at all."

"I know why. In these novels, the police are basically useless. After a while, the whole system just collapses."

"Exactly! The legal system in these worlds is broken. It's nothing like the real world."

"That explains why the characters never call the cops. Turns out there aren't any in here."

Henry slowly came to from his daze.

He struggled to get off the floor as his mind cleared a little. Then he angrily slapped me across the face.

"You're such a vile woman, Aria. Did you drug me again? You'll do anything to marry me, won't you?" he growled. "Since you love getting men in bed so much, I'll get ten strong men for you right now."

Henry's words dripped with venom.

The comments, on the other hand, were ecstatic.

"Here it comes. The story's back on track."

"Don't mind him being abusive now. Once she dies, he'll feel the pain!"

"Exactly! Let her stay silent. He'll hurt her because of the misunderstanding. Then, he'll realize the truth only after she's gone. That's when the regret hits."

"Aria's so stupid. Why isn't she explaining herself? Open your mouth! Tell him it wasn't you!"

I wasn't going to explain anything.

There was nothing to explain.

Why would I ruin my life just to give some worthless man a chance to regret his actions?

I refused to follow a tired, cliché storyline to my death.

I glanced at Henry as he ranted, then grabbed the lamp and swung it at the back of his head. After making sure he was out cold, I hit him a few more times before finally stopping.

There wasn't a rule that said only the female lead in these toxic romance stories had to die.

The male lead could die too.

The comments went quiet for a second, then erupted into chaos. "Holy hell, a female war god! She woke up and started killing."

"Who turned our sweet little girl into this? She just killed Henry?"

"Aria just committed murder! This is illegal! What was the author thinking when they wrote this garbage?"

"Where were you guys when Henry hurt someone?"

I ignored the debate and focused entirely on what to do with Henry's body.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

I peered through the peephole. It was Henry's best friend, Noah Carlson, who was a doctor.

He was always there to egg Henry on when I suffered.

I opened the door without hesitation and let him in.

The moment he stepped inside, he rushed to Henry's side. "What happened to Henry? Why is he out cold? Did the medicine hit him too hard? Did it cause physical damage?"

Hearing him speak made my teeth grind. He had been outside the whole time. He'd heard my screams earlier and done nothing.

But when Henry was down, he was full of concern.

I stepped aside to give him room.

"I don't know. You're the doctor. Why don't you check him out?" I said.

He bent over Henry and inspected him. I loomed over him, still holding the lamp.

With all my strength, I smashed it against the back of his head.

He spun around in shock before reaching out in disbelief. "Y-you… Why—"

I raised the lamp again and swung with full force.

"Why? Because actions have consequences. When you treat ordinary people like trash, someone will eventually do the same to you."

His gold-rimmed glasses flew off his face. He was done for within seconds.

I stared at the shattered glasses on the floor and smiled with satisfaction.

Every time Noah mocked me with his fake politeness, he'd adjust those gold-rimmed glasses. He looked refined on the outside, but he was actually rotten to the core.

I'd hated him for a long time.

After taking down two grown men in a row, I collapsed to the floor, gasping for air.

The readers completely lost it in the comments section.

"Isn't this supposed to be a toxic romance story? Why did I walk into a slaughter scene? Did I open the wrong story?"

"You didn't. Aria just evolved. The original plot's gone. Looks like she's doing her own thing now."

"That's my girl! She believes in an eye for an eye. Payback feels good," one commenter wrote. "I hadn't even figured out who the two male characters were, and she already killed them both."

"While everyone's arguing, she's already dug a hole and buried the bodies."

"That execution speed is insane."

"This is so satisfying. My algorithm should take notes and start recommending more stuff like this."

"What's wrong with her? I liked Noah the most, and now he's dead! She's insane. If it weren't for him, she wouldn't have even had a chance with a man like Henry."

"She's dead for sure. She killed Henry right at the start. Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect? The world's going to collapse, and her ending will be even worse."

"In the original story, Aria dies, and everyone else goes on to live happily ever after, albeit with some regret. So when she dies, everything's fine. But when Henry dies, the world collapses? Does only his life matter?"

"It's over. Her downfall's coming. The plot will correct itself. Her adoptive father married her off to the Johnston family for a huge price. Now that Henry's dead, he'll just sell her off again."

"Serves her right. She didn't want a rich and handsome guy like Henry. Well, now she's getting sold to the crippled old man next door, Geoffrey Parker."

After a while, my phone started buzzing nonstop.

I answered the call. A middle-aged man's excited voice came through. "Aria, your brother's getting married soon. Pack your things and come home for the wedding. Make sure you dress nicely."

The comments sounded just as excited.

"Here it comes! The new plotline after the correction. Once she goes back, she'll be forced into marrying Geoffrey."

"Honestly, she's lucky. All she needs to do is have a kid right away, and the whole village will envy her."

"The author's pretty generous for making her that fertile."

"No, don't go back!" one of the comments exclaimed. "That village traffics people of all ages. They're ruthless. Anyone who is taken there never escapes. Why would she go back?"

"What are you yelling for? Do you think she can see your comments? She brought this on herself by rejecting Henry."

The next second, a gleaming dagger tore through the air and stabbed straight into the comments.

The words "have a kid right away" shattered like glass.

I tilted my head up where the comments had been. In a steady voice with a sharp smile, I declared, "I'm going back. I've already killed two people. What's a few more going to do?"

The comments exploded.

"Wait, she can see our comments?"

"My girl! Look at me!"

"Don't be naive. Henry was drugged, and Noah was ambushed. That's the only reason she pulled it off. Does she really think she can win? That village is filled with strong, unemployed men. I don't even want to imagine how badly she'd die if she goes back."

"Just another brain-dead female lead walking straight to her demise."

"They've already set the trap. She should be running, yet she's entering the lion's den herself."

"Let's see what happens to her."