Escape the Original Male Lead!

She wakes up as the mistress of the male lead in an R19 novel—a role destined for heartbreak when the irredeemably toxic Killian knocks her up and coldly abandons her, claiming he has just realized his true love for the heroine. Fortunately, she arrives before the original story even begins, and she has no intention of playing that miserable part. When Killian casually propositions an affair, she rejects him flatly with a bright, cutting smile: "The young master is not my taste. If I must say, your younger brother is much more preferable." True to her word, she erects an unyielding wall against Killian, devotes herself to protecting his abused younger brother Lexion, and shields the insecure original heroine from the male lead's toxicity. Having completed her mission, she walks away for good. Years later, however, Lexion has overthrown his brother and claimed the ducal title, returning as a dangerously alluring beast—and carrying a childhood engagement document she once signed as a playful joke. He proposes with unwavering intensity. Each time she refuses, he pulls her close and asks in a frosty whisper, "Did your taste change while I was away?"—his eyes promising that anyone she might desire instead would not live to see another day.