They All Love Me to Madness

[Main story complete] [Black-bellied innocent sweetheart vs. ???] -- Xu Shuang is beautiful, with a sweet, innocent smile that has made people adore her since childhood. The neighbor girl who watched her grow up is a famous young actress, kind and considerate. She is always there to help Xu Shuang through her troubles as a confidante. Her high school chemistry teacher has a tall, graceful figure and long, straight black hair. She looks cool and fierce, but patiently shows Xu Shuang the way whenever she feels lost. Her mother's girlfriend, a kind and gentle stepmother, tenderly applies medicine to the wounds on her back, soothing the pain with her fine, warm breath. And the beautiful woman she meets in a one-night stand is Xu Shuang's ideal partner. After their first night together, Xu Shuang takes her in and they plan their future together. But once the disguises come off, everything changes The gentle actress has a severe mental illness. On the day she can no longer hold back her affliction, she presses a bloodstained knife to her heart and tearfully makes Xu Shuang promise never to leave her. The chemistry teacher guides her attentively every moment of the day, but under the pretense of offering advice, she lures Xu Shuang into a dark basement. Her stepmother lulls her to sleep, but while Xu Shuang is lost in a gentle dream, her hand slides toward her neck like a venomous snake... The beautiful woman who shared her bed night after night vanishes without warning. When she appears before Xu Shuang again, it is as the heiress of a prominent family in City N. That day, Xu Shuang never dreamed that the woman she once kept would stand before her with an air of superiority, throw down a stack of cash, and force her to become one of her many lovers. Tenderness, guidance, care, love... They are all illusions on the surface. Beneath those seemingly beautiful façades lurks filth that can never see the light of day. One night, Xu Shuang packs her bags, determined to escape this city full of danger and deceit. But she has no idea that danger is closing in. In the dead of night, on an empty road, a car swerves toward her, forcibly stopping her escape. Covered in blood, Xu Shuang crawls out of the car. Fighting to open her eyes through her hazy consciousness, she sees red-soled high heels slowly approaching, with several blurred figures behind them. “You can't run away yet, sweetheart.” The woman's teasing voice drifts through the night, rich with meaning. A flash of lightning illuminates the people behind her. The woman crouches down and lifts Xu Shuang's chin with a slender fingertip. A sick smile flickers in her beautiful eyes. “We haven't had enough fun yet.” “...” Reader notes: 1. A story about wicked women. They care more about power and themselves than sincere feelings. 2. I don't think this counts as a harem or multiple pairings. The main story has an open ending, followed by four alternate routes based on that ending. 3. An alternate-universe modern setting where same-sex marriage is legal. 4. Some characters have romantic histories with women. 5. Each character has her own storyline. 6. There are no romantic relationships involving minors. When the protagonist and her stepmother become intimate, the stepmother has already broken up with the protagonist's mother, and no romantic content appears while that relationship is ongoing. (Emphasis added.) 7. The author is stubborn ^ ^ Here are some upcoming stories. If any catch your eye, please add them to your reading list~~ She's Just Defying Her Place [Ambitious orphan who dares to defy her station x beautiful, strong, tragic adoptive mother] Blurb: Four hundred years ago, the imperial palace was filled with corpses. Black blood soaked the luxurious carpet, and the coppery stench of blood permeated the hall. A seven-year-old child crawled out from beneath the pile of bodies. Her hair was disheveled, blood smeared across her pale cheeks, and her eyes were shadowed, cold, and lifeless. Just as she was about to pick up a dagger and kill herself, the clear chime of a bell stopped her. A woman in red walked lightly toward her, barefoot across the bloodied floor. A red cord around her ankle made her skin look even paler. At last, she stopped before Shen Rongji, her cool, willow-shaped eyes half-lidded. “Would you like to come back with me?” The woman's vivid red reflected in Shen Rongji's eyes. In that moment, a spark of life returned to them. From then on, Shen Rongji became Rongji, standing with one foot in the gates of hell. She abandoned her surname and kept only her given name. In this life, she would no longer belong to the living. “...” A corridor surrounded by wandering spirits lies underground, leading both to the underworld and to the human world. It is the underworld's waystation in the realm of the living. For tens of thousands of years, the Soul-Returning Corridor has had no purpose but to give the dead a chance to speak their final words and fulfill their final wishes, so that wandering souls may pass on in peace. Lou Yizhi brought Rongji back to the corridor, where Rongji stayed and learned how to care for the dead. For more than three hundred years in the Soul-Returning Corridor, Rongji was at Lou Yizhi's side from morning to night. She practiced the art of summoning souls by day and attended to Lou Yizhi at bedtime by night. She applied medicine, bathed her, and kept watch through the night... The little ghosts in the corridor all said that the current master was exceedingly strict with her successor. Even the slightest mistake meant kneeling beside the bed all night without sleep. She spared no effort or method in training her to become capable. Only Rongji herself knew what a blessing it was to kneel beside her bed at night and attend to her as she fell asleep. Seven hundred years later, the heir to the Soul-Returning Corridor seized power, turning the vast underworld upside down in an instant. Everyone knew that the girl Lou Yizhi had taken in was an ungrateful wretch, a heartless monster. To seize control, she had imprisoned her former adoptive mother in the palace and subjected her to endless humiliation, day and night. “You unfilial brat.” On the night her greed erupted, Rongji pinned her against the desk. Her hand coiled around Lou Yizhi's waist like a venomous snake and slipped into the damp heat. “Mother has always loved Aji. You'll put up with anything Aji does, won't you?” “Shen Rongji, don't you dare.” Lou Yizhi's body had gone limp, and her voice had lost its authority, trembling despite herself. “Mother, you're wrong.” Rongji's gaze was hazy, as if she were lost in the sight of exquisite porcelain. “How could any mother in the world not love her child...? So Mother loves Aji. And if that's so, how can you call what we do together an act of insolence?” Rongji curled her bloodstained lips into a smile. Her fingertip loosened the red cord tied around Lou Yizhi's ankle, then traced upward along her leg. “Don't tremble, Mother...” “...” Ambitious orphan who dares to defy her station x beautiful, strong, tragic adoptive mother An alternate-universe setting with lots of original worldbuilding, still being developed~ There will be plenty of misunderstandings and differences in how they see things~ This is a story written to indulge my tastes, and I really want to write it! If you like it, please add it to your reading list! The more saves it gets, the sooner I'll start writing it! qwq Theme: Love is a reward for the brave