1: I entered a garbage novel?!

Nia sat on her bed with a pair of reading glasses perched on her nose, completely absorbed in the novel resting on her lap.

Several minutes later, she let out a sharp scoff.

Snap!

She slammed the book shut and tossed it onto the vanity beside her bed with enough force to make a few cosmetic bottles rattle.

“Unbelievable,” she muttered inwardly. “I stayed up all night reading this tragic novel… for this?”

She folded her arms across her chest and stared blankly into space, irritation written all over her face.

“The female lead was obviously the long-lost daughter of a wealthy family, yet she was nothing more than a doormat. She never fought back. Never even defended herself.”

With a long sigh, Nia rubbed her forehead as one infuriating scene after another replayed in her mind.

Her own father slapped her across the face.

“Framed by her adopted sister… and she stayed silent.”

Her own brother threw her out of the house.

“Bullied by her own brother… still, she said nothing.”

“She finally got married, but her husband treated her like she didn’t exist. She endured it without a word.”

“Her sister-in-law mocked and humiliated her in her new home. Everyone laughed at her… and she remained silent.”

“Her mother-in-law made her life miserable every single day, yet she continued to swallow every grievance.”

The more Nia remembered, the more her blood boiled.

One scene, in particular, had nearly made her throw the book across the room.

The female lead had been practicing the piano when her mother-in-law stood nearby, finding fault with every note she played.

“Look at you,” the older woman sneered. “Do you even resemble the wife of a wealthy man?”

The female lead simply lowered her head, clutching a cup of water she had prepared, not for herself, but for her mother-in-law.

Yet the older woman refused to let the matter end there.

With an irritated flick of her hand, she knocked the cup from the female lead’s grasp.

Crash!

Water splashed across the floor, soaking the hem of the older woman’s gown.

The woman instantly flew into a rage.

“Don’t you know I only drink warm water?”

Before the female lead could utter a single word…

Smack!

A vicious slap landed squarely across her face.

“You can’t do anything right!” the older woman barked. “You’re utterly useless!”

Nia shook her head, more infuriating scenes surfacing in her mind.

“Even after her husband started an affair with her adoptive sister, they made her wait on them like a servant… and she still said nothing. All she did was cry.”

She let out a bitter laugh.

“And in the end, that useless husband abandoned her to die just to save the adoptive sister.”

“She was forsaken by everyone… and died a miserable death.”

Unable to sit still, Nia sprang to her feet and began pacing around her bedroom, her hands planted firmly on her waist.

“Damn it… I’m so angry I might actually have a heart attack.”

She stopped in the middle of the room, exhaling sharply.

“I spent days reading this novel, patiently waiting for the female lead to turn her life around… only for it to end like that?”

“What kind of ridiculous author writes a plot like this? Don’t readers deserve at least a little satisfaction?”

She dragged a hand through her hair as she walked back to her bed, still fuming.

“Damn it… if I were that female lead, I’d at least arm my mouth with a machine gun and just start blasting everyone and everything. I’d argue my way into a full-on unhinged rant.”

A yawn escaped her lips.

The exhaustion from staying up all night finally caught up with her.

“I’d traumatized every single one of these idiots,” she said before flopping back onto the bed.

The instant her back touched the mattress…

Splash!

An icy chill engulfed her entire body.

She was sinking.

Water swallowed her whole.

At the same time, countless unfamiliar memories flooded her mind like a raging torrent.

Faces.

Voices.

Pain.

Humiliation.

Heartbreak.

They crashed into her one after another until her head felt as though it would split apart.

“Gah!”

Nia shot upward, breaking through the water’s surface with a desperate gasp.

She coughed violently, dragging in mouthfuls of air before frantically looking around, realizing she was no longer in her bedroom.

She was in a fountain pool, surrounded by a crowd of onlookers.

Every single one of them was staring at her.

Some covered their mouths as they laughed.

Others pointed openly, their eyes filled with ridicule.

“Huh?”

Nia blinked in confusion.

Before she could make sense of anything, the sharp click of high heels echoed toward her.

A beautifully dressed young woman crouched at the edge of the pool in front of her, a malicious smile curling on her lips.

“Kimberly Holland,” she mocked, her voice dripping with contempt. “Just look at yourself.”

She covered her mouth with a laugh.

“You look like a drowned rat.”

The people around them burst into louder laughter.

Nia stared blankly at the crowd.

For a moment, she felt like a clown trapped in the center of a circus ring, surrounded by spectators delighted by her humiliation.

Then…

Her pupils shrank.

‘Kimberly… Holland?’

The name echoed repeatedly in her mind.

Wasn’t that…

The female lead from the tragic novel she’d just finished reading?

A terrifying thought crept into her mind and her brows knitted together.

‘…Don’t tell me…’

Her eyes flew wide open.

‘…I transmigrated into this garbage novel?!!’