I Could Never Fall In Love With A Villain - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Fiancé

“Mu Yin! Mu Yin! Are you okay?”

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“You drank quite a lot tonight. Your stomach must feel awful. We brought you some hangover soup—drink a little and rest, you’ll feel better.”

…

So noisy.

Mu Yin frowned slightly, trying to force her heavy eyelids open.

The smell of alcohol mixed with perfume lingered in the air. It wasn’t sharp—on the contrary, it was oddly pleasant, like sinking into soft clouds.

“She still won’t open the door. What should we do?”

“I knew it. She must be hiding something.”

“By the way, did you really see her go into a hotel room with a man?”

“Not me… my assistant. I hired him because he’s observant—he wouldn’t be wrong. He personally saw Mu Yin leave the tenth-floor banquet hall with a man he didn’t recognize, then go straight up to a room on the twenty-second floor. And neither of them has come out since…”

“How exciting. If this is true, let’s see how the marriage alliance between the Mu and Song families survives…”

“Shh.”

…

The voices outside dropped lower, but some words still drifted into Mu Yin’s ears.

What are they even talking about? Can’t they keep it down? It’s the middle of the night—this is disturbing the peace…

Her frown deepened. She subconsciously tried to turn over, but reached nothing—

Bang!

Her back slammed hard against the cold, solid floor.

That fall finally knocked her fully awake.

She opened her eyes, and a number appeared before her like a holographic projection.

33 min

Her memories slowly returned.

This wasn’t a dream.

The world she was in had become a novel called The Glass Girl with Love Syndrome.

It was an old-school, youth-pain, melodramatic romance novel.

And she—Mu Yin—was the most vicious supporting villain in the book.

A villain’s job in romance novels is always simple and thankless—

Constantly creating trouble for the female lead, turning an otherwise ordinary love story into chaos, making the male and female leads break up and get back together again.

Whether she wanted the job or not, Mu Yin had no choice.

Because the 33 min floating before her eyes was her life countdown.

She was now a character in the book. If she didn’t follow the story’s trajectory, she would be considered a corrupted anomaly—and be erased.

She had already learned many details in a dream just now.

But…

Who starts a story with only 33 minutes of life left?! That’s barely enough time for a meal—what was she supposed to do?!

Complaints aside, Mu Yin didn’t waste a single minute.

She glanced around and realized she was in a bathroom, her head still spinning.

Based on the snippets of conversation she’d heard earlier, the plot had reached—

Song Jin Xun’s birthday. Mu Yin leaves midway and is discovered entering a hotel room with an unfamiliar man.

Song Jin Xun was Mu Yin’s fiancé.

So in everyone else’s eyes, this scene was equivalent to him being cuckolded.

The people chattering outside the door all had different motives, but one shared goal—

Catch her in the act, stir up trouble, and sabotage the marriage alliance between the two families.

So the first thing Mu Yin needed to do was deal with the people outside the door.

Fighting through the lingering dizziness from the alcohol, she quickly organized her thoughts and pushed open the bathroom door.

It was a presidential suite, tastefully decorated.

Amid the urgent knocking, she calmly walked to the window and pushed it open.

The night breeze flowed in, dispersing the heavy scent of perfume and alcohol.

“Mu Yin?”

“No response for so long—why don’t we call the hotel front desk and have them open the door?”

“Right. This is a Song Group hotel anyway. We’re just worried about the future ‘lady of the house.’ Totally reasonable.”

“Haha, isn’t that a bit much? What if the scene inside is… unsightly? Wouldn’t that burn our eyes?”

At that moment, the tightly shut door was pulled open.

The lively atmosphere froze instantly. All the joking voices stopped.

There was no denying it—Mu Yin was beautiful.

Leaning lazily against the doorframe, she glanced at them sideways with a half-smile. Just that expression alone was enough to make hearts race.

“Don’t worry. You won’t get eye infections.”

She spoke slowly, her tone flat.

“Otherwise, every time you looked down when using the bathroom, your eyes would already be covered in styes.”

“……”

It was hard to describe how they felt hearing that.

Especially the one who’d mentioned styes—his face shifted between green and white.

Since when did Mu Yin become this sharp-tongued? And this… vulgar?

Wasn’t she always aloof and pretentious?

In the awkward silence, Mu Yin curled her lips.

“No styes, so you can relax. Now then—why are you banging on my door like lunatics? What do you want?”

One of them quickly said, “Sorry for disturbing you. We brought you some hangover soup.”

Mu Yin glanced at the food container in the bag and accepted it without embarrassing him.

“Oh, thank you so much. Not only did you prepare hangover soup for me, you even investigated where I was staying. That must’ve taken quite a bit of effort, huh?”

She smiled as she spoke, but her words were pointed, wrapped in soft thorns, making the person uncomfortable.

“It’s no trouble. I just happened to see you. You drank a lot tonight, so I thought you’d feel unwell.”

—This one had a clear role. From the moment he prepared the soup, he’d decided to play the good guy.

Once someone started, others immediately seized the chance to probe.

“Did you book this room alone?”

Questions came one after another.

“I heard someone saw you enter the room with someone else. That’s probably not true, right?”

“Jin Xun is still chatting with the elders downstairs… If there really was someone, it definitely wouldn’t be him… I know you two don’t have much of a foundation, but Mu Yin, don’t do something foolish.”

It was lively—like a skit.

Their gazes kept slipping past Mu Yin, peering into the room.

“Oh, I get it now.” Mu Yin’s expression didn’t change. “So you all don’t want to inherit your family businesses and decided to start side hustles instead.”

“Huh? Side hustles?”

“Or is it cosplay—detectives?” she said with a half-smile. “Otherwise how are you so good at reasoning?”

As she spoke, she stepped aside and made room.

“Alright, little detectives—come in. Aren’t you eager to verify whether I really brought another man into the hotel room?”

Her light, casual “little detectives” made their feet hesitate.

Mu Yin was being too open—making them look ridiculous. If they found nothing, they’d be mocked to death.

But after a moment, someone chose to step forward.

The reasoning was simple: at this point, Mu Yin was already offended—might as well offend her completely.

And there was also a gambler’s mindset—

Maybe she was just bluffing, retreating to advance.

With one person stepping up, others followed.

Soon, all the “detectives” crowded into the room.

The presidential suite was neat and orderly.

And aside from them, there wasn’t a single extra person.

They were stunned, immediately turning on the source of the rumor.

“Didn’t you say your assistant personally saw Mu Yin enter the room with a man?”

“Yeah!”

“Then where is he?”

The accused bristled under their stares, growing irritated as he tried to defend himself.

“Look—the window’s open! Maybe the man heard us and already ran off!”

A soft laugh sounded.

Mu Yin crossed her arms, leaning lazily against the archway.

“Detective, may I ask—which floor is this?”

“……”

This was the twenty-second floor.

Unless he was Spider-Man, jumping out the window over this was absurd.

When one person in a group makes a foolish argument, the others begin to waver.

Especially a temporary group formed for mutual benefit—those collapse the fastest.

Mu Yin took in all their expressions.

Rather than psychology—

Well, she’d memorized their faces. Today’s grudge was noted.

Just then, someone muttered unwillingly, “We haven’t searched thoroughly yet. Maybe he’s hiding under the bed or in the closet.”

Before anyone could respond, a smiling voice drifted in from outside the open door.

“Isn’t that a bit inappropriate?”

The voice was clear and pleasant.

And yet, it made everyone’s expressions change.

Mu Yin lifted her gaze.

The man walking in wore a tailored suit. Though there was obvious drunkenness in his eyes, his tie was perfectly straight. From his hair to his shoes, everything was immaculate.

Impressively so—almost excessive.

Amazing. He’s even better at pretending than I am.

That was Mu Yin’s first thought.

Why is he here? He didn’t appear in the original plot…

That was her second.

He does look good.

That was the third.

Song Jin Xun’s arrival added another layer of awkwardness.

“I’ve already heard about the matter.” His gaze settled on Mu Yin, a sigh slipping from his throat. “Miss Mu has been wronged.”

Mu Yin rubbed the goosebumps on her arm and asked bluntly, “Oh? And who did you hear it from?”

Someone who wasn’t supposed to appear in this scene suddenly showed up—of course she was curious why.

But Song Jin Xun merely sighed again, skipping the question.

“I believe today’s incident must be a misunderstanding. I trust Miss Mu.”

With the fiancé saying that, no matter how unwilling the others were, they couldn’t press further.

“It’s just…” Song Jin Xun frowned slightly, looking troubled. “This matter has already reached the elders.”

Mu Yin raised an eyebrow. Her expression remained calm, but her fingers tightened.

The life countdown before her eyes shrank rapidly, its color growing blood-red—like a blade ready to pierce her heart.

Trouble never comes alone. With so little time left, completely new plotlines were popping up one after another.

Was her luck really this bad?

Song Jin Xun looked at her worriedly.

“The elders care a lot about their reputation. If this isn’t explained clearly, it won’t be easy to settle.”

After a pause, he continued, “But actually, this is easy to explain. There are cameras everywhere in the hotel corridors. We can pull the footage to prove Miss Mu entered the room alone.”

“Is that alright, Miss Mu?”

They locked eyes.

Song Jin Xun smiled gently, very considerate.

“If it’s inconvenient, that’s fine too. There are many other ways to resolve this—such as—”

“Check the footage,” Mu Yin cut in casually. “If it’s the simplest solution, why not choose it?”

“Yes, it is the simplest.” Song Jin Xun nodded with a soft smile.

“But I have one request.” Mu Yin turned toward the silent group. “After my name is cleared, all of you must apologize to me.”

“I originally didn’t want to make a big deal of it—we’ve known each other for years, after all.”

“But now it’s reached the elders… How am I supposed to face people in the future? That won’t do.”

Song Jin Xun added, “She’s right. An apology is appropriate.”

“And one more thing.” Mu Yin looked at Song Jin Xun. “The footage can be copied, right? Please make a copy for me. I’ll give one to every elder who attended today, just to make sure I stay ‘innocent’ in their eyes.”

“Sigh. Rumors take one sentence to spread—clearing them takes running until your legs break.”

Song Jin Xun froze for a moment, then quickly recovered.

“Of course. No problem.”

“Wait.”

Someone suddenly spoke, then said calmly—

“I’ll apologize.”

The room fell silent.

“Tonight was actually just a game between a few of us. We saw that Mu Yin drank too much and booked a room alone to rest, so we decided to prank her… We were drunk and did something wrong. The cold air sobered us up. We’re truly sorry.”

“There’s no need to check the footage. We’ll go downstairs later and explain everything to the elders ourselves. We’ll take the scolding.”

The night wind poured in through the open window.

The cool breeze seemed to truly sober everyone up.

—

In the blink of an eye, the room quieted down, leaving only Song Jin Xun and Mu Yin.

As if genuinely awakened, they all admitted that tonight was just a prank and apologized.

“Actually, having footage as evidence would be better for clearing your name,” Song Jin Xun said gently.

“I know. Then guess why they didn’t dare let you check the cameras?” Mu Yin asked lazily, resting her chin on her hand as she sat on the sofa.

As the original novel’s second male lead, Song Jin Xun was smart. He understood immediately.

The cameras wouldn’t just show whether Mu Yin entered the room alone.

They would also capture everything those people said and did outside her door.

Needless to say, they must have said some inappropriate things—hence why, when Mu Yin asked to copy the footage, they suddenly sobered up and united in apologizing.

“So you’re just going to let them off like this?”

“Forgive when you can,” Mu Yin said generously. “After all, I’m a good person.”

Song Jin Xun curved his lips slightly, his gaze flickering—neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Mu Yin knew how ridiculous that sounded coming from her.

After all, she was the “villainous supporting character”—her unlikability needed no explanation.

“Xing Yao will return next week,” Song Jin Xun smoothly changed the topic. “Grandfather asked me to bring you to the family dinner.”

Song Xing Yao—Song Jin Xun’s younger brother, born of the same mother.

The so-called family dinner was really just part of the process—though it was a marriage of convenience, they still had to pretend to cultivate feelings.

“We’ll talk about it later.” Mu Yin yawned, looking sleepy. “Can I still stay in this room?”

“Of course.”

Song Jin Xun was very tactful.

He maintained his courteous demeanor, reminded her to close the window, then left.

At the same time, the countdown before Mu Yin’s eyes stopped at 30 s, then skyrocketed, finally settling at 4320 min.

She let out a long breath. It felt even more thrilling than bungee jumping—her adrenaline had been soaring, only now slowly calming.

The room returned to silence.

Three seconds later—

Click.

The wardrobe door slowly opened.

A pale, long hand appeared first—distinct knuckles, elegant fingers.

Then, a young man’s face peeked out.

That face resembled Song Jin Xun by about thirty percent.

But unlike Song Jin Xun’s gentle refinement, this man’s brows and eyes were vivid and unruly, full of arrogance and vitality.

Song Xing Yao.

Song Jin Xun’s younger brother.

And also—

The man who had entered the hotel room with Mu Yin.