The Black Moon Guide Doesn't Want to Be Everyone's Favorite

After an accident, Li Zhi saw in the Tower of Prophecy that she was an F-class Guide, a fake princess of the Empire.

Everyone around her had always thought she was stupid and nasty, and deeply despised her. They only treated her with deference and obedience because of her status.

Once the real princess, an S-class Guide, returned, her gentle fiance, loyal captain of the guards, princely brother... and everyone else would fall madly in love with her, setting off a full-blown Guide-Sentinel harem showdown.

And Li Zhi's fate would be to fall into the mire and die miserably after being sent to the front lines.

So, was she going to fight the heroine for them?

...How boring.

She was already tired of playing princess.

Li Zhi ended the game ahead of time, announced to the Empire that she was the fake princess, and went to the perilous Black Tower front, where she proudly became a low-ranking Guide earning a salary of three thousand.

The work at the Black Tower wasn't exactly relaxing, but it was interesting. She met plenty of young, silly Sentinels she could tease, and even made a Guide friend. Li Zhi was quite satisfied.

But the S-class Sentinels who were supposed to be orbiting the real princess just wouldn't stop haunting her.

The tall captain of the guards knelt before her on one knee as he always had. Yet beneath his seemingly loyal gaze swirled a murky, unreadable desire. He supported her delicate white ankle in his palm and pressed it against his chest.

"Your Highness, don't you want me anymore?"

Her gentle fiance clenched his useless marriage contract. The refined elegance he usually wore behind his gold-rimmed glasses had vanished. As she whimpered, a thick, icy snake tail wrapped tightly around her.

"Lili, our engagement is engraved in our mental link."

Her childhood friend, the prince, gently wiped away the tear at the corner of her eye and wound a red thread around her wrist. His cold fingers slipped between hers, his gaze obsessive and sickly.

"Little sister, we were always meant to be together."

To avoid a group of deranged S-class Sentinels, Li Zhi had no choice but to stay at her Guide friend's house, sharing meals and a bed with her. But one day, she happened to catch her friend's gaze in the mirror, thick with gloomy intensity...

"Didn't Lili say she'd be my 'good friend' for life, and that we'd be together forever?"

So why are you looking at me like you're afraid?

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Reading guide: A crowd-pleaser romance. Our girl is a wicked supporting character and a dark moonlight. She's a little scheming, but not much. Romance-focused, with a wild mix of kinks, including but not limited to: "Princess and the bad dog who holds the leash," "A yandere, repressed brother finally drops the act, pseudo-incest," "I woke up and the whole world is fighting me for my fiance," and "I thought you were my friend, but you actually want to..."

Every character is dark, deranged, and covets our girl.

Premise: Healthy, sunny romance