Chapter 2: Canceled and Cornered

I spent the whole afternoon trying to piece my life back together.

That’s when it hit me: the world I’m living in is actually a romance novel. A really twisted one.

Summer Fields is the main character. Me? I’m the villainess, fated to mess up, make enemies, and end up locked away by the yandere second male lead.

No wonder everyone who meets Summer is instantly obsessed with her. It’s like gravity—she’s the center of the universe, and I’m just a satellite stuck in her orbit.

It was a lot to process.

After a long, hot shower that night, I checked my phone, hoping to zone out—but was hit with a wall of hate comments.

My Twitter was a dumpster fire, Instagram was worse, and even my Venmo got hate comments. Cancel culture didn’t care what app you used; my notifications were spinning like a slot machine, and every spin was a loser.

My old friend Derek Lane popped up on Facebook Messenger:

[Madison Carter, don’t think I don’t know—you’re just trying to break me and Summer up so you can have me back.]

[Heh, all this drama just to see me? Fine, you got your wish. Friday afternoon, same place.]

I didn’t even bother to reply. I hovered over the block button, then hit it with the satisfaction of deleting an ex’s playlist. Then I put my phone face-down and buried my head in my pillow. Sometimes silence says it all.

The barrage in my head—like my own personal Reddit thread, scrolling by in real time—lit up:

[Not to whitewash, but honestly, the female supporting character’s viciousness isn’t baseless. A proud, self-loving rich princess—overnight, her parents, boyfriend, and friends all ignore her like they’re under a spell, and care about another girl. If it were me, I’d go nuts too.]

[The female supporting character is pretty and rich—why should she always lose to a heroine who can’t even tell Word from Google Docs? This novel makes no sense...]

[If I were the author, I’d slap the crazy heroine, slap the crazy male lead twice, lock the villainess and the yandere second male together in the basement until they have eight kids—how about that?]

...

Not great. Not even a little bit.

After calming down, I was about to finally get some sleep—had just unclasped my bra—

When the bedroom door swung open.

The hallway light spilled across the carpet, and I could smell his cologne—sharp, expensive, intimidating.

Nathaniel’s eyes flicked over me, from head to toe.

I snatched my bathrobe and yanked it on, heart hammering.

"Sorry, you didn’t lock the door."

Nathaniel stared at me, Adam’s apple bobbing, faint black scales glimmering on his skin.

When an incubus gets aroused, he can’t help but show his true form…

I was about to snap "Get out"—

Then the barrage hit:

[I bet the female supporting character is about to say 'get out' with that disgusted look. Such a beauty, why is she so bent on courting death? The second male's love is worn down bit by bit like this.]

[Madison, be a little gentler to your husband! If you slap him now, you’ll pay for it in the basement later—chapped lips hurt, you know.]

Reminded by the barrage, I forced a small, awkward smile and changed my tone:

"It's okay, hus—"

Nathaniel, halfway out the door, paused and looked back, eyes searching mine, waiting for me to finish.

Tsk, that barrage kept calling him 'hubby'—now it was stuck in my head, and I couldn’t get the word out.

For a split second, I thought about just saying it—'hubby'—but it stuck in my throat like dry toast. Nathaniel watched me, his Wall Street-cold stare softening just a hair, like he might actually care what I was about to say.

[I'm dying! Say it already! Just call him 'hubby' and he'll give you his life. The heroine is nothing.]

[Can you not make the second male seem so pathetic? Three years of cold treatment, he definitely hates the female supporting character more than he loves her. And don't forget, he locked her up to protect the heroine.]

The barrage split into two camps, bickering like rival TikTok fandoms.

I cocked an eyebrow. Time to stir the pot a little:

"Nathaniel, do I have a good figure?"

"Average." He dropped his gaze, voice unreadable as ever.

[Still pretending! With a mouth like that, no wonder the female supporting character pined for the male lead all these years after marrying you. She kind of deserves it.]

[Did I wake up in the wrong world? Why does it seem like the female supporting character isn’t disgusted by the second male today? Our villain couple CP fans are getting fed!]

I wasn’t letting it go that easy. I stepped closer, teasing, "You didn’t even sneak a peek. How would you know if I’m average?"

"No need to look." Nathaniel’s reply was icy, but his fingertips curled, knuckles pink, and the seam of his trousers looked dangerously tight.

How did I never notice this before? The way his hands shook, the way he avoided my gaze—there was something vulnerable there, something I’d missed while I was too busy being bitter.

I noticed his collar was crooked and reached out to straighten it.

"Don’t touch." His voice was sharp, a warning rumble above my head.

So fierce.

I froze, remembering the barrage’s arguments. Right—three years, and I’d never given Nathaniel a single kind word, while Summer played the little sunbeam and always coaxed him out of his shell.

No wonder Nathaniel hates me.

I gave a self-deprecating laugh and pulled my hand back. "When you leave, remember to close the door. I’m going to sleep."

He shut the door, but instead of leaving, he crossed the room toward me—slow, deliberate steps.

His breath was hot, his eyes wild with restraint.

I finally realized something was off: "Nathaniel, what’s up with you? Do you have a fever?"

The barrage exploded:

[To be precise, he’s in heat… Second male, don’t love too much! The female supporting character was just bored and teased you a little, and you got so worked up your rutting period came early.]

"Rut?" I muttered under my breath.

Three years married and I never knew Nathaniel had some kind of—seasonal thing?

Barrage: [The female supporting character is clueless. She always thought the second male was abstinent—please, he’s an incubus! With your looks, he just couldn’t bear to force you.]

[During previous ruts, Nathaniel would sneak off with a piece of your underwear and leave early, never letting you see.]

[Now that I think about it, those clothes are pitiful, nearly worn out by the second male’s supernatural stamina...]

I stared at the barrage, feeling like I was scrolling through a cursed Discord thread.

Was that why he didn’t want me touching him just now?

Suddenly, Nathaniel pressed his face into my neck, his breath hot as he rubbed back and forth.

His pale skin flushed, hunger softening his usual coldness.

For the first time, I saw him not as the monster under the bed, but as a man—his hands trembling, his eyes darting away, letting his guard drop for the first time in forever. There was something almost heartbreakingly raw in the way he looked at me—like he was fighting every instinct in his body, something wild just under his skin.

I’d been so obsessed with Summer and Derek, I’d never really seen Nathaniel. Not until now.