After We Broke Up, How Did You End Up Such a Mess?

Su Zhu transmigrated into a book, becoming a cannon-fodder character in a novel about powerful women in love with women. She had already done every awful thing imaginable, so things went terribly wrong from the start. When faced with the original story’s heroine, she smiled ingratiatingly, waited on her hand and foot, and did everything she could to win her favor, all just to stay alive. But one day, the heroine suddenly said to her, “I like you. Want to date?” * Su Zhu had always believed that sincerity could be repaid with sincerity. It was the first time she learned that giving someone her whole heart could also leave her so completely broken. “Getting together with you was just a twist of fate. The kindness you thought you saw was nothing but an act.” Heartbroken, Su Zhu turned and walked away. Su Zhu was wholehearted in both love and rejection. When she loved, she was brave and passionate, holding nothing back. When she stopped loving, she was decisive and clean-cut, never looking back. She spent three years healing herself through good food, travel, music, and the stage. She accepted life without Song Yuran and realized she could live an even more colorful life. So when Song Yuran came back asking to get back together, Su Zhu could calmly reply, “Song Yuran, I’ve been doing just fine without you.” * She thought they were like two lines that crossed briefly before going their separate ways, never to meet again. She was living her own contented little life, while Song Yuran would surely shine on her path to becoming the heroine of her own story. That was what she thought, until one day, they met again. Su Zhu saw Song Yuran, gaunt to the point of looking ill, in a dangerous state and barely alive. After a moment, she stared in a daze and asked hesitantly, “How did you... end up like this?” #Reader Advisory: This story is a slow burn, with travel and everyday life taking center stage early on. Neither character is perfect, so please keep that in mind before reading. #Completed: Transmigrated as the Scum Alpha in a Substitute Romance and After Transmigrating into a Book, I Refuse to Cuddle Up to My Aloof Boss Every Day. Check them out in my author’s collection. #Upcoming: The One I Love Hates Me to the Bone. Synopsis below: [The synopsis uses both characters’ perspectives; the story itself is told in third person.] The top’s perspective: I was born with a mission. I would devote my life to the people and sacrifice anything for the peace and prosperity of the nation. Later, the rebel faction grew in strength and ambition, while my mother held power in her hands. I had no choice but to kill the entire rebel family. I defied all opposition and knelt outside my mother’s chambers in the rear palace for days. At last, I managed to save the woman I loved most in this life. From that day on, the woman I loved most hated me to the bone. The bottom’s perspective: We grew up together. Beneath the moon, we once held hands and made a wish: one day, she would be empress and I would be her trusted minister. I would spend my life doing everything I could to serve her and preserve her realm. No matter how difficult it was to stand by her side, I would never retreat, because she was the woman I loved. Then the woman I loved ordered my entire family killed. I... had nothing left. I once thought that from that day on, I would hate her forever. Even if she tried to atone by giving me great authority, granting me territory, and offering me everything within her power, I would never forgive her. But that night, the rebels stormed the imperial palace. As a subject, it was my duty to protect the realm and keep it secure. A rebel’s long sword came hurtling toward me. At the last possible moment, she stepped in front of me. The sword pierced her chest, and blood dripped from its tip. The woman I had hated for half my life raised a trembling hand and gently touched my face. A relieved smile, one I had not seen in a long time, appeared on her lips. “A Ning, I wish I could return to our childhood. Back then, we had neither power nor status, but we had each other.” “A Ning, if there is another life...” If there is another life, I want no power over the court, no riches or glory. I only want to be an ordinary person, with simple meals and a humble cottage surrounded by a sparse fence, as long as you are always by my side. “Murong Zhao, I regret it too.” Theme: Sincerity, candor, and loyalty