I Accidentally Woke Up the Obsessive Male Lead - Chapter 0:

Chapter 0: “I Accidentally Woke Up the Obsessive Male Lead”

It was a night faintly illuminated by the pale blue moonlight.

Breaking through the heavy silence, Ariel opened her eyes wide in surprise.

Marble pillars reminiscent of an ancient temple, and a sea tinged with a bluish hue.

Did I time-slip again?

Ariel looked at the hourglass hanging around her neck.

Grains of sand were slowly falling from the red gem inside the hourglass.

Ariel looked around and let out a deep sigh.

It seemed she had moved to another time period again.

Whether it’s the past or the future, traveling isn’t the issue, but I wish I could choose which time I end up in.

At first, when I went through this, I was so flustered that I didn’t even know what was happening.

However, by now, Ariel had gotten quite used to it and knew well what to check first.

First, check which time period she had arrived in.

She looked at her reflection in the marble pillar to check which time period she had traveled to.

Hmm, not much has changed. Is it the same time period?

Looking at her reflection, which appeared to be about twenty years old, Ariel tilted her head in puzzlement.

It didn’t seem like she had strayed too far from her original time period.

Second, observe the place she had arrived in.

Ariel looked around. She had a rough idea of the time period, but she wasn’t so sure about the place. Have I ever been somewhere like this before?

It felt strangely familiar. It was somewhat like the ancient ruins she often visited, but not quite the same.

Hmm. It’s definitely not that place.

The moment Ariel’s gaze turned toward the center of the hall, her purplish-pink eyes trembled slightly.

On the blue-hued podium, which matched the floor, a man lay sleeping. He looked almost like a dead person.

The moment Ariel slowly approached and checked his face, she tightly clenched her fist.

In the end, this moment had arrived.

From the moment she realized she had reincarnated into a novel, she had thought that a day like this would come.

She never thought it would come so soon.

“It’s over.”

She muttered briefly, burying her face in her hands. This entire situation felt like a scene she had known all too well.

No, to be more precise, she had read it. It was her past life.

She didn’t know why she had come here, but she was well aware of where this place was.

The first tower where time had stopped.

The Magic Tower where the master of the orb and the male lead of ⟨The Time of the Sleeping Witch⟩, Essered El Ezekiel Steffen, is sealed.

If the original story plays out as written, the female lead will awaken the sealed male lead with a kiss, and then things will spiral into steamy, dark obsession and relentless emotional torment.

So, the important thing was that Essered hadn’t opened his eyes yet.

Which means… this timeline is before the original work takes place!

To put it simply, Essered is in a sealed, blackened state, and nothing holds any significance to him during this period.

They’re even attempting to kill the heroine, do you truly believe they’d spare the neck of some nameless extra?

In her desperate bid to find a path to survival, Ariel tried to scour her memories of the original work’s contents, only to let out a weary sigh in the end.

Having only read 1919 chapters, not a single piece of information came to mind.

Aaaargh! Why on earth did I end up here before the female lead?!

Ariel tore at her hair in frustration over the sudden death flag.

A few strands of her pink hair, streaked with gold, were caught between her fingers, but she didn’t even notice.

She had to think of a way. A way to escape from this place.

What should I do? To return to the present quickly, I have to kiss him, but what if he wakes up?

No, I’m not even the main character.

Huh? The main character…?

As she wrestled with her thoughts, she suddenly remembered something she had completely forgotten, and her face lit up.

Essred had not just fallen asleep. He was sealed, and the only way to break the seal was with a kiss from the ‘female lead.’ Without that, he couldn’t wake up.

What that means is, whether she performs a somersault or breaks the pillar with a sidekick, Essred won’t wake up.

I’m not the female lead!

Right, isn’t it the same as Sleeping Beauty, where the princess wakes up with the prince’s kiss? If anyone could do it, she would have woken up with the Queen’s kiss, her mother.

Ariel was deeply moved by the fact that she wasn’t the female lead.

Long live the extras! Long live the insignificance of being like dust!

Grateful countless times for being an extra, she looked at the hourglass hanging around her neck.

Anyway, after some time, she would naturally return to reality, so she decided to just stay put and wait, though it would be a bit boring.

In that moment, the description of Essred from the book flashed through Ariel’s mind.

‘It said he has a dark, decadent, and dangerous aura after he falls.’

On top of that, Essred was the most handsome man in the entire world.

Why else would readers who saw the novel’s illustrations give him the nickname“the man whose face is the plot”?

Of course, his terrible personality was also top-tier in the entire world.

So this was her chance. If not now, she might never get a proper look at Essred’s face.

She couldn’t risk losing her head just to get a glimpse of his face.

Well, if she looked at Essred’s face, time might pass by a little faster…

She quickly turned her gaze toward her sword.

Though no one was around, she still felt strangely embarrassed. She cleared her throat, ahem, ahem, and then quickly lowered her gaze.

His long black hair, tinted with a red hue as if infused with fragments of ruby, and his eyelashes of the same color cast a long shadow.

A beam of soft light fell, illuminating his delicate white face and lips as red as a ruby.

Crazy, with a face like that, he could conquer the universe.

Stunned by his unreal appearance, Ariel soon felt a strange sensation.

It was the same. Aside from the difference in hair length, everything else was identical to the Essred from her original time period.

Well, it was only natural since it was his appearance five years later, but seeing her childhood friend lying there still sent a chill through her chest.

On the other hand, she felt a sense of doubt.

He was quite a good guy, so why did he become the villain?

“Why did you change your heart…?”

She couldn’t finish her sentence and fell silent.

As much as she wanted to shake him awake, she knew that if she did, the only thing dangling might be her own neck.

Ariel turned her head away, telling herself it was a foolish thought.

At that moment, someone grabbed her arm.

“Eek…!”

She recoiled in shock and looked down at the altar, only to meet them. Vivid, crimson eyes.

Crimson…?

Ariel froze on the spot.

H-He’s awake…!

Ariel instinctively took a step back, or rather, tried to.

But he was faster. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her in.

The moment she felt the firmness of his arm, her vision flipped.

Ariel’s already large eyes widened even further.

Why was she lying on the altar, and why was Essred looking down at her?

No, more than that, why had he woken up?

As she lifted her head, a sinister red light pierced through his long black hair, looking down at her.

The moment she tried to move, a murderous voice pressed down on her.

“Don’t move.”

Countless orbs of light appeared around them, as if they were trying to get a glimpse of her face.

Ariel squeezed her eyes shut. The light was so bright, it blinded her.

Once again, a low voice was heard.

“Open your eyes.”

Isn’t he going to turn down the brightness?!

As Ariel opened her eyes, trembling, a sphere of light hovered at a level that didn’t hurt her eyes.

Huh? Was he being considerate? Oh. Could it be that he figured out who I am? Right! Even if he’s fallen to darkness, he wouldn’t have lost his memory.

However, she quickly dismissed that thought.

“…”

“What are you?”

I’m your childhood friend, you bastard!

…She wanted to shout that, but Ariel couldn’t say a word.

“…Right, that’s what you mean.”

She muttered softly, words that were impossible to understand.

A gentle, low chuckle that seemed to mock.

It was certainly a gentle tone, but it sent a chill down her spine.

His eyes are completely messed up!

The red eyes captured her face, now pale with dread, soaked in suffocating madness.

“This time, for sure.”

A deep curve formed at the corner of his mouth.

“I’ll kill you.”

In contrast to his bright smile, his eyes gleamed with a strange, red glow.

It was a chilling, murderous intent.