He Doesn't Want to Be the Male Lead in an Otome Game

Synopsis:

When Heyi first entered this game, she thought she was just a bystander, an experiencer. Other people could have all the dramatic love and heartbreak they wanted. She only needed to enjoy a nice, steady romance.

But one day, someone told her he had returned from a hundred years in the future to save her.

The person who would kill Heyi was none other than the man she loved more than anyone, her husband-to-be, Yan Linqi.

Heyi: What? Can the male leads in dating sims kill their wives to prove their devotion to the Dao, too?

They had barely enjoyed a few days of married bliss when Yan Linqi really did raise his sword against her.

But... wasn't he pointing that sword the wrong way?

Heyi stared at him in disbelief. “When did I ever say I wanted to kill my husband to prove my devotion to the Dao?”

Her first husband died on the path to the Dao. Carrying both grief and hope, Heyi met the game's second male lead.

A temple. Wildly overgrown hair. A gaunt figure kneeling with his back to her.

He seemed even more bereft than Heyi.

Heyi: How captivating.

The captivating Buddhist cultivator kept her at arm's length. Then one day, with the System's help, she woke at a time when she should have been asleep and discovered a man helping himself to her body.

Only then did Heyi realize that the Buddhist cultivator wasn't just crazy: he had a split personality, too.

Her second boyfriend was forced to leave her so he could get treatment.

After experiencing partings that felt like death, Heyi wanted to end the game. But the System persuaded her to meet the final male lead.

Wei Chaoshen was emotionally stable, sunny, and highly respected.

His students were everywhere.

Yet he still couldn't fend off a peach that clung to him and leaped straight into his mouth. It stripped away his dignified teacher's facade and revealed the fox tail he'd hidden for thousands of years.

Worse still, just when he'd fallen completely for her and was ready to become Dao companions, she asked to break up with him?!

Heyi: “Here's the thing: I can marry you, but I'll still have to leave afterward.”

Wei Chaoshen smiled, showing all eight teeth. “Dear disciple, your teacher doesn't mind killing his wife to prove his devotion to the Dao.”

Heyi got the death-escape ending she wanted, left the beta test, and collected her pay.

She was about to go out and celebrate with hot pot when she noticed:

Why did the security guard at the entrance to her residential complex look so much like her late ex-husband?

Why did the kitchen hand at the hot pot restaurant remind her of her ex-boyfriend?

A luxury car cut her off on the road. When the window rolled down, the face revealed was none other than her gullible master.

Heyi pondered. “Should I check myself into a psychiatric hospital?”

Updates are irregular. The romance has an open ending.

See my author page for a completed older novel.

Theme: Health, safety, and happiness are the true meaning of fulfillment.