I Entered a Torture Novel and Started by Killing the Male Lead

Just after getting married, when she and her husband are deeply in love and perfectly in sync, Bai Xuerou awakens memories of her past life. Only then does she realize she didn't transmigrate: she transmigrated into a book.

The good news: she's the heroine.

The bad news: it's an angst novel.

As the heroine of an angst novel, she is destined to go through the whole ordeal: her childhood sweetheart of a husband demotes her to the rank of secondary wife, gives her poisoned wine, disfigures her, and causes her to lose her memory. She runs away again and again, only to be found each time, until she finally gives up in despair.

Bai Xuerou is so distressed she feels as if her heart is seizing up.

There's no way she can run away, so she secretly gets in touch with the late king's concubine, who is on the verge of dying from illness.

Few people know that the woman is from the Southern Border and possesses a deadly poison. Bai Xuerou promises to care for the woman's young son, Ling Xun, who is only eleven years old.

The dying concubine agrees.

From then on, Bai Xuerou keeps Ling Xun by her side, teaches him literature and martial arts, and takes meticulous care of him.

Five years later, Ling Zheng, who has inherited the title, takes control of Jiangbei. To advance his position, his military adviser suggests that he seek the hand of a noblewoman and use marriage to expand the Ling family's power.

The story is about to begin, but just three days later, Ling Zheng suddenly dies.

Ling Xun takes over the Ling family.

For Bai Xuerou, life is only just beginning.

-

Ling Xun is a man of great ambition and deep cunning, with the makings of an emperor.

Out of gratitude for the years she spent raising him, he has always treated Bai Xuerou with respect and affection. Pearls, brocade, delicacies, and every other fine thing are sent to her as soon as he can get them.

With an enormous fortune at her disposal, power and influence, and everything going her way, Bai Xuerou is very satisfied with her life. She even considers taking a few male companions to keep herself entertained.

When Ling Xun learns what Bai Xuerou has in mind, he smiles and agrees, saying he'll find his sister-in-law a few fine, respectable men. Bai Xuerou is pleased. Then an accident leads to a moment of passion between her and Ling Xun, and everything spirals out of control.

Only then does she learn that Ling Xun's mother, worried about them, had placed a love curse between them years ago. It would take effect when Ling Xun turned eighteen.

There is no cure for the curse. From then on, their lives are bound together, and on the first and fifteenth of every month, they must endure the curse's flare-ups.

What... are they supposed to do?

-

Ling Xun has a secret: he has coveted his sister-in-law for many years.

A few warnings: an age gap of five years in a romance between an older woman and a younger man; the heroine is not a virgin, the hero is; the second male lead ends up with her; the male lead might not die quite so soon.

Coming soon: Elder Brother's Wife

Warning: the heroine is not a virgin.

Wang Yu is the second daughter, always the one overlooked.

When she is fourteen, her elder sister's betrothal hits a snag, and her sister is taken into a nobleman's household. The marriage then falls to Wang Yu.

She marries Chen Wenzhi, her heart full of unease.

Fortunately, no one in the Chen family minds the switch. Her in-laws are kind, and her husband treats her wonderfully, with tenderness and care. For a while, she feels as though she has fallen into a jar of honey. But her good fortune doesn't last. In the second year of their marriage, Chen Wenzhi dies of a sudden illness. Unable to bear the loss, his parents soon follow him.

The only one left in the Chen family is Chen Wenxiu, her twelve-year-old brother-in-law.

Her parents send her a letter telling her to remain a widow and not entertain any other thoughts. If she brings shame upon the Wang family's reputation, they will consider her no daughter of theirs.

Wang Yu weeps over the letter. Chen Wenxiu, however, tells her that a woman's youth is precious and says his brother told him before he died that she should not make herself suffer, but should seek another good man.

Wang Yu had a deep bond with her husband and never considered marrying again. She only cries because her parents are so heartless.

She stays with the Chen family and manages the household, allowing her brother-in-law to focus on his studies. Fortunately, Chen Wenxiu proves himself. He passes the provincial examinations at fifteen and, while still young, comes first in the palace examinations. Everyone says she will have good fortune in the years to come.

Wang Yu thinks so too.

Until one night, after drinking too much, she and Chen Wenxiu somehow spend the night together.

Wang Yu can't accept it. Even after all these years, she still remembers how good her husband was to her, and she has never once thought of marrying again. But Chen Wenxiu seems even less able to accept what happened. He keeps saying he has wronged his brother and intends to kneel in the ancestral hall until he dies.

Dazed and confused, she has no choice but to comfort him first.

Even when, step by step, she eventually marries Chen Wenxiu in a grand procession with ten miles of dowry, she still can't understand how the two of them ended up here.

-

Chen Wenxiu knows his sister-in-law has only ever loved his brother.

But he can't help falling for her.

He uses every means at his disposal, acting vulnerable and even using a face that looks seventy percent like his brother's to tempt her. At last, he gets what he wants.

-

After being reborn, the first thing Wang Yao does is find a way to marry into the Earl's household and escape her engagement to the Chen family.

In her previous life, her father forced her to marry into the Chen family against her will. She and her husband had a bad relationship, and after he died young, she wasn't allowed to return to her family. Filled with resentment, she took it out on her brother-in-law, berating and beating him at every turn. But later... later...

Later, Chen Wenxiu came first in the examinations and rose steadily through the ranks. The first thing he did was confine her to the inner quarters and torment her day and night. He even drove the Wang family to ruin.

Beneath his gentle, dignified exterior lurked a beast. The very thought of him chilled her to the bone, and she never dared provoke him again.

When she learns that the marriage has fallen to her younger sister, she feels relieved. She does feel a little guilty about making her sister suffer in her place, but there's nothing she can do. Yet, in the end, Chen Wenxiu proves just as capable as he was in her previous life, while always treating Wang Yu with respect and never slighting her.

She feels a pang of loss and wonders: if she hadn't run away and had treated Chen Wenxiu well, would all that endless wealth and glory now have been hers?

Theme: Redemption and being redeemed, understanding and perseverance