Hoodwinked into Her First Kiss

For most people, escaping into the pages of a romance novel offers a welcome reprieve from the monotony of everyday life. But for Joo-in, that fantasy becomes a terrifying reality when she awakens as Lydia, a doomed concubine within the pages of *Reaching for the Stars*. Armed with the grim knowledge that her predecessor was executed by the emperor for merely displeasing the story's heroine, the newly transplanted Lydia makes a conscious decision to fade into the background. She barricades herself within her own palace, diligently avoiding the central couple in a desperate bid to survive the ruthless machinations of the imperial court. Her carefully laid plans, however, begin to unravel with the arrival of Mar, an enigmatic young man who presents himself as the emperor’s runaway servant. Intrigued despite her better judgment, Lydia finds her quiet existence violently disrupted when she receives an unexpected invitation to the royal ball. Suddenly, she is thrust into the very lion's den she sought to evade, facing veiled threats from a jealous rival concubine and a chance encounter with the heroine herself. As one bewildering incident triggers another in a chaotic domino effect, Lydia is left scrambling to understand what went wrong. Unbeknownst to her, the true catalyst for this upheaval is not a twist of fate, but someone standing far closer to her than she ever imagined.