Episode 4

Vivian lay awake in bed long after the house had fallen into silence. The moonlight poured in through the window, casting soft shadows on the walls. In this quiet world of someone else’s life, she was still trying to figure out who she was supposed to be.

Vivian Ashford.

The name felt foreign. And yet, it was hers now.

She sat up, hugging her knees to her chest as her thoughts returned to him—Valentine Valare.

In the story she read, he was cold. Ruthless. The villain. He had nearly destroyed everything in his obsession. She remembered being angry as a reader—furious that he treated Selena like a ghost of someone else. Like she was replaceable. A stand-in for the dead.

But now… she whispered to herself, I'm the dead woman brought back to life. And he isn’t the villain I thought he was.

He had cried in front of her.

Confessed his love like a man on the edge of ruin.

Vivian could still see his trembling hands, the raw pain in his eyes. That wasn’t the look of someone evil. That was the look of someone who had been hurt too many times and didn’t know how to love without breaking everything he touched.

She remembered the story briefly mentioned his childhood—a powerful family, a cruel father, a mother who left. Coldness was not his nature. It was a shield.

And now, he had dropped it. For her.

Because he almost lost her.

Her grip around her knees tightened. In the original novel, Valentine’s pain was never truly addressed. He fell, he obsessed, and he was discarded. The story treated his madness as entertainment. A plot device. Nothing more.

But now that she was inside this world, he was real. He was flesh and blood. And broken.

And she could feel the weight of his silence. The stillness around him that screamed louder than words.

She had loved the main couple—Selena and Sebastian—their passion, their resilience, the way they brought light into each other's lives. She didn’t want to change that. She didn’t want to disrupt what was meant to be.

But perhaps, in loving the villain, she could save the story. Save him. And in doing so, maybe even save herself.

A soft wind rustled the curtains as she stood and walked to the window, placing a hand on the cool glass. Somewhere in the estate, Valentine was likely awake—brooding, silent, carrying the weight of too many memories.

“I hated you in the story,” she whispered. “But now… I want to understand you. If no one else gave you a happy ending, maybe I will.”

Her reflection in the glass was calm, but her heart fluttered with a quiet storm.

And in that moment, Vivian made a vow—not as the real Vivian, but as the girl who now lived in her place.

She would rewrite his fate.

Even if it meant changing her own.

To be continued.....

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***