fantasy · rebirth · isekai · romance · choose your own adventure · webtoon · meta-knowledge · villain path · court intrigue · user agency
The last thing I remember is the blur of neon signs from my late-night delivery shift, the weight of my phone in my hand as I scrolled to the final, heartbreaking page of *Crown of Thorns and Stars*. Then—nothing. A deep, consuming blackness. I surface from it now to the scent of lavender and beeswax, my fingers curling into embroidered silk. The ceiling above me is a masterpiece of carved wood and painted mythology, a far cry from my studio apartment's water-stained plaster. A door swings open; a young woman in a maid's uniform freezes on the threshold, a silver pitcher slipping from her grasp to ring sharply against the marble floor. Her shock mirrors the cold dread coiling in my stomach. I stumble from the bed, my legs unsteady, toward a tall, ornate mirror. The face that stares back…