A Practical Guide to Sorcery - Chapter 199: An Exchange of Blows

Reina Suzuki was an overworked office worker—until she died and woke up as Lavinia Devereux, the infamous villainess princess of the Elarion Empire.She knows how this story ends: she’ll drink poison and die. A painless, easy death. So why bother changing fate? Villainy, revenge, redemption—sounds like way too much work. She decides to do absolutely nothing and let the story play out.But her terrifying father, Emperor Cassius Devereux, won’t ignore her like he’s supposed to. He watches her, questions her, and—worst of all—starts acting like he actually cares.Lavinia just wanted a quiet villainess retirement… so why does everything keep changing?

Shi Yu, an Archaeologist and Mythologist, crossed into a foreign world where Noble Beasts were the mainstream.

I was betrayed in my first life.A cripple, broken and discarded—I died after catching the one I loved in bed with the only person I ever called a friend.That was the start of real torment.When I woke up, it was in another world.A goddess stood before me.She told me I could go back.Back to my world.Back to everything I lost.All I had to do… was play my part.The side character.And I did.I followed the script.Played my role to perfection.They hated me.Mocked me.Used me.Again and again.But I kept going. Because I believed her.Because I wanted to go home.Then one day, I found out.The hard way.It was all a lie.There was no going back.There never was.She used me.Again.Just like everyone else.Thrown away like trash once I outlived my usefulness.That was the day something inside me snapped.And so, I made a vow.I would take everything from her.I would enslave every single heroine she chose.And I would kill the hero she placed all her hopes on.If she wanted to protect this world…Then I would burn it down.But the more I tried, the more things started to change.And then one day—I found one of the heroines.One of the hero's yanderes I had enslaved.She stood there, trembling, a knife in her hand.“You’re not going anywhere,” she whispered, eyes wild.“I won’t let them have you. You belong to me.”...What. The. Fuck. Is. Happening?!

I used to think obsessive male leads were kind of hot. You know—the intense stares, the undying devotion, the way they’d burn the world for the woman they love? Swoon, right?Wrong.That fantasy went up in smoke the moment I woke up in the body of Sonia Mitford—the heroine of The Crimson Devotion, the first obsessive romance fantasy novel I ever read. The one that ended on a mysterious hiatus. The one with Marius Wittelsbach—a charming, possessive psychopath who thinks an ankle shackle is a love language.Now I’m trapped in a velvet-draped prison, shackled to a bedpost like some porcelain doll in a gothic fairytale. And Marius? He’s worse than I remembered. Sweet, soft-spoken... and utterly unhinged.“You don’t need to be afraid. I’ll take care of you.”Translation: I’ll murder anyone who blinks in your direction and serve you tea over their corpse.“Anyone who bothers you... anyone who looks at you the wrong way... I’ll get rid of them for you.”I thought I was playing the role just fine—smiling, nodding, pretending not to be horrified.But then—plot twist! Alessio Slovene, the forgettable side character, walks in looking like a golden retriever knight and drops this bomb: he’s actually the crown prince in disguise. And he’s investigating Marius.Finally—a lifeline. Maybe.Because people are vanishing. The body count is rising. And every time Marius kisses my forehead and calls me “Nia,” I feel one step closer to becoming the tragic heroine in a blood-soaked love story.Obsessive male leads aren’t dreamy.They’re terrifying.And I might be in way over my head.