“I’m terribly sorry my champagne found your face so magnetic, Captain.”

Theodore Ashford does not get angry. No — he smiles. Slow. Amused. Dangerous.

“No apology necessary, Lady Cruelton. In fact, I insist you join us for dinner next week. I find you… fascinating.”

—

Beatrice Whitmore died once already.

She wakes up inside a 1940s romance novel — not as the heroine, but as the infamous purple-haired villainess destined for scandal, disgrace, and an early grave. Everyone hates Lady Cruelton.

Which is perfect.

Because survival comes with rules.

A mysterious System rewards her with Hatred Points for humiliation, social ruin, and expertly executed cruelty. The more she’s despised, the longer she lives. Reform is fatal. Kindness is suicide.

Being terrible should be easy.

Until Captain Theodore Ashford — decorated war hero, heir to an estate as vast as his ego — refuses to despise her. Immune to her schemes, unfazed by her insults, he watches her with knowing amusement… as if he sees through every calculated performance.

Faking her death was supposed to secure her escape from the plot.

Instead, his attention drags her deeper into it.

Now Beatrice must outmaneuver gossip, rewrite a story determined to destroy her, and earn enough Hatred Points to survive — without falling for the only man who doesn’t hate her.

Because in a world where love is the true death sentence for a villainess…

Cruelty might be her only way out