"Oh no! Someone fell into the river!"
"Quick! Hurry, save her..."
The frantic shouts echoed from a distance as Whitney Johnson sank deeper into the water, struggling for air. Panic surged through her heart.
Was this some cruel cosmic joke?
As a 21st-century college student, she had just been pulling an all-nighter, gaming in her dorm room. And then, out of nowhere, she dropped dead.
If dying unexpectedly wasn't bad enough, she had time-traveled.
And if that wasn't enough, she'd landed in the body of a pitiful side character in some novel of older times.
The moment she opened her eyes, she found herself in a nightmarish situation. A sleazy man was pinning her down in the middle of a reed patch, about to rape her, losing her dignity.
This pervert was Bobby Walls, the workshop supervisor who'd been lusting after her body for ages. Today, he had lured her out in broad daylight and made his move.
By the time Whitney time-traveled and took over this body, Bobby was already panting heavily, tearing at her clothes, muttering something about her being lonely and how he'd make her feel good.
Whitney had never encountered such a terrifying situation before. She was scared out of her mind.
As his disgusting face drew closer to hers, she mustered all her strength, kicking him away and running like her life depended on it.
She tore through the tall reeds until she reached the riverbank. Since she knew how to swim, she didn't think twice before diving straight into the water.
Who would've thought this body was so weak? The moment she hit the water, all her strength vanished, leaving her completely immobile.
"Great," she thought bitterly, barely an hour into this new life, and she was about to die again.
And in such a humiliating way. It was truly heartbreaking.
Whitney held her breath and desperately tried to swim up, but her body felt like it was made of lead, pulling her deeper underwater. The air in her lungs slipped away, and her mind started to fade.
Just when she thought it was all over, a tall figure broke through the surface of the water. A strong arm grabbed hers and pulled her to safety.
Lying on the riverbank, Whitney slowly regained consciousness.
The man standing over her was strikingly handsome, his features sharp and chiseled. His cool, glassy eyes radiated an aura of calm and control, and there was something oddly familiar about him.
He definitely wasn't Bobby.
Whitney sighed in relief.
After a moment of awkward silence, the man's expression shifted. He quickly shrugged off his coat and draped it over her, then turned to leave without another word.
Whitney sat up, dazed, and as the coat slipped down, she realized her dress had come undone, exposing her pale neck and a large stretch of her skin. The wet fabric clung to her body, highlighting her curves in a way that left nothing to the imagination.
No wonder the man had been so flustered, even offering his coat to cover her up. She was practically flashing the entire village.
Whitney pulled the coat around her tightly, hiding any trace of what might have been exposed.
The villagers had gathered around, looking at her with concern.
"Are you okay, miss? You're lucky that someone was nearby!"
"Where are you from? How did you end up falling in the river by yourself?"
Whitney's mind was still foggy, but slowly, she began to piece things together.
The scene she'd found herself in was a novel written by her college friend, Rose Yvette.
In this story, this current body had the same name as hers in her real life and was the tragic first wife of the male lead, Thomas Heath.
The original character was weak and unlucky. She had been engaged to Thomas's elder brother but a series of unfortunate events happened.
On the day she came to visit the Heath family to discuss about the marriage, she bumped into Thomas. Thomas had a lot of drinking and got seriously drunk. Somehow, they were both found lying on the same bed and in the end, it became Thomas who married Whitney instead.
Not long after the wedding, Thomas returned to the army and didn't come back for four years. In his absence, the original host had fallen into the hands of Bobby, the lecherous workshop supervisor, and had gotten pregnant with his child.
When Thomas finally returned, she had hidden the pregnancy and followed him to his military base. There, she met the real female lead of the novel, Yasmine Yvette, who came from a prestigious family and was perfect in every way. She was also the youngest daughter of the Deputy Chief of Staff. Yasmine secretly harbored feelings for Thomas, even though he was already married.
Soon, the original host gave birth to Bobby's child, who was born with severe disabilities. Consumed by guilt, she lost her sanity. Thomas, being the loyal and steadfast man he was, stayed by her side.
It wasn't until the truth about the child was revealed that the original host, overwhelmed with shame, threw herself and the child into the river...
With the obstacles out of the way, Thomas and Yasmine fell in love and lived happily ever after.
Whitney had stumbled across the novel online and recognized it as Rose's creation because all the names were barely altered versions of their real-life counterparts.
In that novel, Yasmine Yvette represented Rose herself, while Thomas Heath was the stand-in for Glen Heath, the handsome guy Rose had secretly admired back in school. As for the pathetic ex-wife? That character was based on Whitney herself, without even a name change.
The entire story was Rose's fantasy love letter to Glen.
Rose had come from a tough background and had always been shy and withdrawn. Whitney only found out about Rose's crush after Rose had inexplicably targeted her several times. Rumor had it that Glen had feelings for Whitney, which made her Rose's enemy by default.
Now, Whitney had been sucked into this fantasy world, but at least she had arrived just in time to stop the original host from losing her innocence to Bobby.
Because of that, she had avoided getting pregnant with Bobby's child and steering the story toward disaster.
"Miss? Miss?"
"Oh no, do you think she's lost her mind?"
The villagers, seeing her standing there in a daze, began speculating.
Even the man who had saved her turned to look at her again.
Feeling embarrassed, Whitney shook her head. "I'm fine... Ah-choo!"
Before she could finish, a loud sneeze erupted from her. She hugged the coat tighter around her, shivering in the cold.
"You're drenched!" A kind woman said. "Hurry home and change, before you catch a cold."
Whitney nodded, glancing down at her soaked skirt. It clung to her body like a second skin, outlining her figure in a way that made her blush.
Luckily, the man's military coat was large enough to cover her properly.
She looked at the man, feeling both grateful and conflicted. In these tough times, food and fabric were scarce. She couldn't just walk off with his coat – it looked expensive.
But she couldn't very well return home half-naked either.
Just as she was about to ask for his address, intending to return the coat once she'd cleaned it, the man spoke first. His amber eyes were calm and unreadable as he said, "Keep it."
Without waiting for a reply, he picked up his backpack and walked away, his tall, imposing figure fading into the distance.
The crowd around her couldn't help but praise him.
"That soldier is something else. Not only did he save her, but he gave her his coat too!"
"Yeah, he didn't even ask for her name or try to get close. What a noble guy!"
"That's the mark of a true soldier – always doing the right thing!"
Whitney watched him leave, her mind racing.
She had a pretty good idea of who he was.
This was none other than Thomas Heath, the male lead of this story and the original host's husband.
