A few pages into the book, Sasha frowned and concluded that the author had it out for this poor side character because her ending was tragic and depressing.
Earlier in the book, there were hints that the maid vampire master had his eyes on her, always popping out at random and lingering by her side too long.
Every morning, she would arrive at work as Elena's personal maid. Elena had caught the jagged punctures on her neck that she had tried to hide.
Elena had once described such wounds as hideous to look at, looking as if an animal had tried to tear her throat out.
Even her inner thighs carried those same marks, clear evidence that their relationship may have bordered over the line than just feeding.
The culprit behind her death was her vampire master after she was fired from her old job.
A job that brought him great benefit. Due to his being from a lesser noble vampire clan, he didn't hold a lot of status with the high echelons of their society.
But with his blood pet aiding the kings lover, the others had stopped looking down on him and allowed him to forge connections with higher-status vampires.
Yet this was all ruined by his blood pet running away, and to make matters worse, she tried to assassinate the king's lover.
For weeks, he had her starved and beaten, but it seemed, after some time had passed, that wasn't enough.
Seeing her weakened state as an opening, he forced himself onto her, and days later, it was confirmed she was pregnant with his seed.
Now, earlier in the story, it was clearly stated that human women could not survive birthing children sired by vampires.
For months, the half-blood child would feed on its mother's blood.
When it came time for them to be delivered, they clawed themselves free, ripping open the womb that carried them.
'Very gruesome,' Sasha noted.
Sadly, this was how the maid had met her end.
The last sounds she heard were the cry of a child that ripped her open, followed by the gloating voices of her master's wife, who had long since despised her existence.
In her eyes, it was the fault of this lowly and disgusting human that her husband never returned her love.
Instead of showering her with affection, his eyes would always linger on this lowly human pet. Showering this insect of a blood-bag with attention that she believed belonged to her.
Such twisted thinking made Sasha scoff.
'Too blind by her love, she can't see that her husband is nothing more than a monster.' And with that, Sasha had found two more characters that she hated.
"A worthless whore to the end. At least I won't have to worry about her seducing my husband ever again. With her gone, his sick obsession with this dirty blood bag should end. Hand me the child; he would make a fine knight to serve our household."
The wife gloated, having never liked this maid, and seemed happy to be rid of her.
In her final moments, the maid felt nothing as her life slipped away; she only cursed being born into this painful world.
"When the cycle of reincarnation befalls me. I wish for nothing more than to be born in a world free of pain and abuse. Let me wake in a world where freedom and dreams exist. A world… where I can finally be happy."
These were the maid's last words, which were nothing more than a hopeful wish.
There was an ache in Sasha's chest, resonating with this poor woman who had known nothing but suffering her whole life.
Even until the end.
Before she realized it, teardrops had landed on the screen of her phone.
Her heart filled with injustice and sadness for a character who wasn't even the main character, quickly wiping her eyes before anyone saw her.
Sasha sniffed and clicked on the next page.
'What the hell?' Sasha blinked her eyes in blank disbelief.
Right after that depressing chapter, she was slammed with paragraph after paragraph describing an explicit "makeup" smut scene, in which the male leads punished Elena BDSM style for disobeying them.
Fed up at this point, Sasha refused to waste any more brain cells on this web story and hastily hit the exit tab.
Sasha felt heat rise in her chest, an inferno ready to burn everything in its path.
"I can't believe I took the time out to read this crap! At this point, I want the leads and those shitty vampires to all burn and die."
Sasha glared at her phone, having unknowingly muttered this out loud.
A passenger who overheard her saw the contorted look of fury on her face and edged away.
It wasn't just the leading character's selfishness that made her blood boil, but the author's casual cruelty to the human characters.
Even the vampire side characters were treated better.
The author spent numerous pages writing about the heroine's happiness, yet showed no care for the hundreds of human characters who were left to rot and be forgotten.
A universe that catered to Elena's happiness, but damned everyone else.
Sasha prided herself on never leaving mean or harsh reviews on people's books, as those people put in a lot of hard work.
But something about this book felt wrong! It felt disgusting, and the anger building up inside her needed to be unleashed.
Pulling up the review tab, her fingers flew across the keyboard, putting all her frustration, anger, and sadness into words.
By the time Sasha was done, she had written five lengthy paragraphs describing the brutal honesty of her feelings.
Once the review was sent, she thought she would feel slight regret, having never done such a thing, but instead, what greeted her was a shot of pain shooting through her chest.
'What the hell?' Sasha's hand gripped her chest.
Another shot of pain followed after, and it constantly kept coming, sharper, faster, and relentless as if invisible knives were driving into her heart.
Her mouth parted open to scream for help, but no sound came out.
Around her, no one took notice of her.
Her arms suddenly grew heavy, falling to her side as her phone slipped out of her hand.
Another sharp pain wracked her chest, and tears gathered in Sasha's eyes. Her vision was starting to blur, and it was becoming difficult for her to breathe.
'Really? The first time in my life, I leave a bad review on someone's work, and I die?'
Sasha knew things weren't looking good for her, and fear settled within her chest.
'So fucking cliche.'
These bitter last words were her final thought before she felt herself submerged into pitch-black darkness.
As she sank, she felt nothing. No pain. Nothing but silence surrounded her for who knows how long.
But the silence of this void was suddenly broken.
"Finally, you have arrived."
A woman's voice, clear and steady, reached Sash's ears.
'Arrived? Who was that? What is it talking about?' Questions swirled in Sasha's head, but no answer came.
Like a tidal wave crashing down upon her, she felt herself pulled down once again.
But before she could scream for help, a burst of light engulfed her, and once again she could feel her limbs.
Before Sasha could sigh in relief, the pain felt twice as bad as before.
'Why does my body feel like it's been hit by a truck repeatedly?'
Sasha asked herself. Her arms and legs burned. Her stomach ached and was empty as if she hadn't eaten in days.
'Was I in the hospital? But if I'm in a hospital, why are my arms bound behind me? And why am I not lying on a hospital bed?'
As more sensations returned, dread began to settle in her chest like a heavy stone.
Her knees ached, raw and throbbing, as though she had been kneeling in an uncomfortable position for hours.
'Why the hell am I kneeling in the first place?'
Sasha tried to move, but the awkward position and restraints made it impossible.
"Worthless human. Confess your crime before the Court of Dusk!" A harsh voice thundered. Its aim was directed at her.
'Crimes? When have I ever admitted a crime?!'
Sasha screamed in her head. Wishing her eyesight would be restored so she could see where she was, which would be a blessing.
"Your majesty," a sultry female voice purred, "How do you expect a response from the little pet with your shadow chains cast over her mouth?"
The woman's words dripped with amusement, curious to see in which direction this spectacle would go.
Sasha felt the weight over her mouth, which she hadn't even known was there, lift.
'Wait, did that lady just say 'majesty'?! Who even uses those terms anymore? Better yet, where the heck am I?'
Sasha felt her heart racing as panic started to set in. This whole situation was beginning to feel a bit like deja vu.
Slowly, flickers of color began to return and focus, and Sasha's vision returned.
Greedily, she took in her surroundings, but little good that did for her because even with her vision restored, everything around her was shrouded in shadows.
The only light in the room came from the grand stained-glass window spilling violet, silver, and indigo light into the room.
Sasha counted at least ten pairs of glowing eyes, ranging from lilac to silver to sapphire blue.
But the pair that held her attention the most, that made her breath freeze, was the twin set of blood-red eyes, glowing cold and merciless.
They glared at her as if she had committed some unforgivable sin.
'I feel like prey trapped within a room full of predators.' Sasha realized.
The air was thick with bloodlust, pressing down on her, causing her skin to break out in a sweat.
Every gaze pinned onto her dripped with pride and contempt, as if she were nothing but trash staining their noble presence.
Sasha hated it.
'I don't like this. One second on the bus home, only to suffer a heart attack at the ripe age of twenty-six and wake up in this strange nightmare place?'
"Speak!" Thundered a venomous male voice.
"You dare try to flee with your rag-tag dumb human pack? And when your foolish plan was foiled, you stabbed the soulbind of the kings of the Court of Dusk! You are merely courting death to dare lay a hand on our property!"
His blood-red eyes locked onto Sasha, burning with such a cold fury that she knew he craved for her death.
Even in the dark with his face concealed, she knew he was sneering down at her.
But Sasha had no time to pay attention to his fury.
She was overcome with her own emotions. Icy tendrils of fear spread through her limbs. Her mind started jumping to a single, ridiculous conclusion about what was happening to her.
'Wait…Court of Dusk? Wasn't that mentioned in that trash vampire book I dropped?"
The more Sasha pondered this, the more dread began to emerge, and her stomach sank.
'No. No, no, no! This can't be right!'
Sasha felt like breaking down and crying like a big baby as her mind pieced together a clear picture of what was happening to her.
'Don't tell me… that like those popular transmigrated web novels, that I've somehow transmigrated as well? And if so, I've transmigrated into that stupid dark romance book?!'
Sasha screamed in her head with disbelief.
'You gotta be shitting me!'