The man I loved fell in love with someone else while trying to bring me back to life.

The man I loved fell in love with someone else while trying to bring me back to life. When I woke up, Ethan asked me what I wanted. I was about to say I wanted to finish our wedding, but then, lines of text flooded my vision. *“Omg the male lead is so devoted, he’s a literal god but he still hasn’t forgotten about resurrecting his mortal side-character ex.”* *“The side character is so shameless. She just got brought back to life and she’s already demanding a title? Our girl has been with him through thick and thin for a million years!”* *“Whatever, she’ll just get taken back to the heavens, act like a brat, and get ignored. That’s when the male lead will finally realize our girl is his one true love!”* I thought for a moment, then replied, “I want a divorce.” 1 Ethan froze. He looked almost exactly as he had the day I died, only even more handsome, more ethereal. “Rose, are you joking?” he asked, his voice cracking with disbelief. *“The competitive female side character wants a divorce? That makes no sense!”* *“This old hag is definitely just threatening him to get what she wants. So pathetic! Why would the author write such a trashy character?”* *“Just wait, our girl is about to show up with their kid. Let’s see how this plays out for the side character!”* The words scrolling through my mind were vile. Apparently, I was seeing the live comments from a webnovel called *The CEO’s Rebellious Darling: Heaven’s Emperor, Please Be Gentle.* Ethan was the male lead, a talented but aloof and arrogant prodigy. I was the “white moonlight” ex-wife he was trying to save, the one who had died protecting him from a divine trial. To bring me back, he had embarked on a cultivation journey with the female lead, a half-demon, half-immortal named Lily. They were a classic enemies-to-lovers pair, supporting and growing with each other over nearly a million years. Lily confessed her love for him multiple times, but Ethan, with me still in his heart, always refused her. Until, during a particularly difficult trial, he couldn’t break through his cultivation bottleneck. So he slept with her. She got pregnant. Twice. Their first was a daughter. Now she was pregnant with their son. And me? After being resurrected, my personality would supposedly take a dark turn. I would become jealous and petty, constantly fighting with Lily in the celestial court. I would even frame her for things, causing her to have a miscarriage. Ethan would come to despise me, and the next time I acted out, he would destroy me with a single blast of divine energy. My soul, scattered to the winds. What a joke. 2 “Ethie-bear! Rose must still be groggy from her million-year nap. After all, she’s still just a mortal, her human body is so frail. Why don’t you let her rest here in the celestial court for a while?” A fairy in flowing red robes floated toward us on a cloud. Her belly was slightly swollen, and a miniature version of herself stood beside her. “Daddy-bear! Up!” The little girl, munching on a candy apple, ran straight for Ethan. “Lily-bug, I thought we agreed, no more candy until your new teeth come in,” Ethan said, his hand, which had been holding mine, automatically reaching out to scoop the child into his arms. *“There it is! The pet names! Ethie-bear and Lily-bug! Even their daughter calls him that, so cute! He’s a god but he still lets them call him that. This little family is everything!”* *“Is someone feeling a little…extra? I’m not naming names.”* *“Our girl is too sweet, offering to let the side character stay in the celestial court! It’s so sad she doesn’t know what’s coming.”* I bit my lip and tried, “My love.” Ethan didn’t react. He was too busy bantering with Lily. “My love!” I said, louder this time. That finally got his attention. He put the child down and knelt before me, pulling a box of celestial pills from his sleeve. He had the same shy look on his face I remembered from when we were young. “Rose, I’m sorry. It’s been so long since anyone called me that. Let me introduce you. This is Lily, my partner on my cultivation journey. When she said your mortal body was frail, she didn’t mean it as an insult. Human bodies are just… fragile.” “So… tonight, I’ll personally transfer my cultivation to you. Then you can become an immortal, just like me, and we’ll never have to be apart again.” I pointed to the mother and daughter. “She has your daughter, she’s carrying your child, and you’re telling me, in front of her, that you and I will never be apart?” As expected, Lily’s eyes welled up. The little girl started hitting me with her tiny fists. “You bad woman! You made my mommy cry! Apologize to my mommy!” *“The side character is playing the innocent victim now? There, there, Lily-bug, don’t cry.”* *“If the side character wants a divorce so bad, she should just leave. She can jump from the God-Slaying Terrace and go back to the mortal world.”* *“She’s just saying that. That bitch would never give up the wealth of the heavens and the promise of eternal life.”* As I turned to leave, Ethan grabbed my arm, and at the same time, grabbed Lily’s as she was about to turn away. “Rose, where are you going?” “To the God-Slaying Terrace. I told you, my wish is to divorce you.” He frowned, confused. “Just because Lily and I have children? Are you really that petty?” *Was I petty?* My husband had fallen in love with another woman while trying to resurrect me. Wasn’t I allowed to be angry? “Let me go.” I didn’t want to be the vicious person the comments described. Leaving was my only choice. He did let go. He let go of Lily’s hand and wrapped his arms around me from behind, holding me tight. “My only goal on this journey was to bring you back. Without you, nothing I’ve done has any meaning.” My own eyes started to tear up. We had been through so much together when we were young. Maybe I should trust my Ethan, not these strange, scrolling words. 3 “Daddy-bear! Mommy’s tummy is bleeding!” Lily was clutching her stomach, her face pale. Ethan let go of me and transferred some of his energy to her to stop the bleeding. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he didn’t push her away, just lifted her into his arms. “Lily is showing signs of premature labor, Rose. I’ll be right back.” She was having his child. It was his duty as a father to be there. I couldn’t just let an innocent baby die. Especially not Ethan’s child. But a selfish part of me thought, *if I hadn’t died, we would have had children. We would have been a normal, happy couple.* “Rose, Lily is just a good friend who happens to be carrying my children. Don’t overthink it. There’s no love between us.” My nails dug into my palms. I swallowed my resentment. “Okay.” 4 Ethan was still worried I would jump from the God-Slaying Terrace. He had me locked in a lavish palace, guarded by hundreds of celestial soldiers. The servants were forbidden to speak to me. I had no way of finding the Terrace, no sense of time passing. *“Omg that was a close one, the side character didn’t do anything and Lily had a healthy baby boy! The male lead said he looks just like him when he was born!”* *“Does anyone else think the side character is looking a little…old?”* *“A day in the heavens is a year on earth. The male lead has been with Lily for fifteen days while she recovers from childbirth. The side character is a thirty-year-old hag now.”* Thirty, an old hag? Ethan and Lily were a million years old, but they still looked like teenagers. I looked in the mirror. There were fine lines around my eyes, and my skin had turned a sallow yellow. I was aging. One day, two days, ten days. I missed my parents. I missed my family. I never got to see my mother’s hair turn gray, never saw my father grow old. I never brought honor to my family. Back then, I was so consumed by Ethan. He needed a special cauldron for his cultivation, and our family was the only one in the region with the knowledge to forge it. No one believed that a cursed, star-crossed boy like him could ever become an immortal. So I knelt in our ancestral hall, bowing until my forehead was bloody, begging my parents, my elders. The only condition they gave was that Ethan had to marry into our family. On our wedding night, a great storm raged. I used my own body to shield him from a divine trial. He broke through to the next stage of cultivation, becoming the most powerful mortal in the land. And I died. How much pain must my parents and my family have felt, seeing me sacrifice myself for a man. It wasn’t worth it. I didn’t understand then. I thought a young boy’s love could last forever. I couldn’t die of old age here. I had to go home. I had to make things right with my family. 5 “Rose, are you still mad at me?” Ethan’s voice was right behind me. I turned, and there he was, bathed in a holy light, more radiant than ever. And I was withering away. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight. “Rose, Lily had a boy. He looks just like me when I was born.” *“The Heaven’s Emperor has a great memory if he can remember what he looked like as a baby.”* He sighed. “Rose, will you call me ‘my love’ again?” I tried to push him away, but he was too strong. “When we were kids, you used to fight off all the bullies for me. Remember, Rose? You, a girl, wrestling with them, getting covered in mud and bruises. You won so many of their fighting crickets that we sold them at the market and bought four bags of sesame candy. We ate so much we just lay on the stone steps and watched the moon.” How could I forget? Under the moonlight, a tiny Ethan had bravely proposed to me. “I, Ethan, will marry Rose in ten years! I will never take another wife, never have a concubine! For this life, and all the lives to come, I will only love Rose! The stars are my witness, the heavens are my judge! If I break this vow…” Little Ethan scratched his head. I was laughing so hard, chewing on my candy, that I fell over. “If you break this vow, you’ll never get to eat sesame candy again!” To a six-year-old Ethan and a five-year-old me, there was no worse fate. “Rose, I’ll give you half of my cultivation. You won’t get old anymore. Please, don’t be mad at me.” The lights suddenly went out. My robes were being untied. Ethan had somehow moved me to the bed. I closed my eyes. The comments flooded my vision again. *“Nooo, he’s going to be tainted!”* *“Poor Lily-bug, all alone with two kids! Author, stop torturing the female lead!”* *“See, I knew the side character couldn’t stand getting old. And she was talking about divorcing him and jumping from the God-Slaying Terrace. She’s so fake.”* A wave of anger washed over me. A normal mortal woman, jumping from the God-Slaying Terrace, with nothing. How was I supposed to survive in a world teeming with gods and demons? How was I supposed to find my family, who had long since been reincarnated? If Ethan was willing to give me his power, why shouldn’t I take it? 6 The next morning, my face was young again. And I could feel a strange power humming within me. It must have been Ethan’s cultivation. He was still asleep, holding me so tightly I could barely move. I tried to sit up. “Lily-bug… stop it…” he murmured in his sleep. When we were making love, he had told me a thousand times that he loved me, only me. But now, in his most unguarded moment, he was thinking of her. *“The side character should open her eyes and see who the male lead really loves in his subconscious!”* *“The side character only spent fifteen years with him. Our Lily spent a million years with him. It’s obvious who he loves more.”* *“The side character thought she could die and become his unforgettable love, then come back and win his heart. Too bad. The one who isn’t loved is the third wheel. The angst is delicious!”* *“When is she going to jump already? I can’t take it anymore.”* I shook my head, but I couldn’t get rid of the comments. So I decided to just lean into it. “In that case, why don’t you tell me where the God-Slaying Terrace is.” 7 The comments exploded. They didn’t seem to know I could see them. *“Is she talking to us?”* *“Is the side character crazy? Or am I crazy? How can she see the comments?”* *“Side character, if you can see this, make a heart shape.”* A heart shape? I didn’t know what that was, but I pointed to my own heart. “Like this?” The comments went silent for a moment, then flooded in, a chaotic torrent. “You guys, slow down, I can’t read this fast,” I said, my head starting to throb. *“Does that mean she saw all the mean things we said about her?”* *“We weren’t wrong, though. She is a bitch.”* *“But she hasn’t done anything evil yet.”* *“I wish our Lily-bug could see this. Why did it have to be the character I hate the most?”* *“Guys, has anyone noticed that the next chapter is gone?!”* *“OMG you’re right, it’s blank! Someone message the author and ask if it’s a bug!”* *“I thought this was a completed novel. I’ve read it a bunch of times.”* *“Does that mean… our comments can change the plot?”* *“Don’t get ahead of yourselves. She’s just a villainous side character.”* Side character or not, I was the protagonist of my own life. “So… can you tell me where the God-Slaying Terrace is now?” 8 Following the comments’ directions, I slipped out of the palace. Ethan’s cultivation allowed me to turn invisible and evade the celestial guards. “This is the God-Slaying Terrace,” I said, looking at a well surrounded by a rainbow-colored mist. Through the clouds, I thought I could see my deceased family. “Mom, Dad, your daughter has been unfilial. I’m coming to find you.” Just as I was about to jump, a red light shot out and wrapped around me like a rope. “Where are you going, big sister Rose?” Lily asked, holding her baby. She looked weak, and there was blood seeping from under her robes. Her eyes were red, as if she’d been crying. “I’m jumping from the God-Slaying Terrace to make way for you two.” I tried to use my cultivation to break free, but the rope only tightened. “This is the Immortal-Binding Rope. The stronger your cultivation, the harder it is to escape.” She dragged her weak body over and knelt before me. “Are you mad at me, big sister Rose? If I’ve done something to offend you, I apologize.” The comments started fawning over her again. *“Our Lily-bug looks even worse than when the side character framed her and caused her to miscarry.”* *“I’m starting to regret telling the side character where the Terrace is. She should have just stayed in her lane and been the villain.”* *“The female lead is apologizing, and she hasn’t even done anything wrong!”* *“The side character is just using us to bully the female lead!”* *“Next time she asks for directions, I’m giving her the wrong ones and letting her get into trouble.”* Hah. These commenters were so quick to jump to conclusions and so hypocritical. I didn’t have time for them. I focused on trying to conceal my cultivation so I could escape. I had started cultivating at the same time as Ethan, and I had actually progressed faster than him. I had only pretended to be weaker to protect his ego. If I hadn’t died before breaking through to the next stage, I might have been just as powerful as he was now. Lily must have sensed the rope loosening. She chanted a few words under her breath. “I’m not giving Ethie-bear to you. We’re soulmates. You should just do your part and hate me. That’s enough.” A small, almost imperceptible smile touched her lips. Something was wrong. Suddenly, the rope around me vanished. Lily fainted, and the baby, who had fallen to the ground, started wailing. Ethan arrived, his brow furrowed. Seeing the scene, he shot me a look of pure hatred. “Lily-bug told me you were jealous of her, but I didn’t believe it. I thought you weren’t the type to be petty. I never loved her, my heart has always been with you. Why couldn’t you just leave her alone? She was worried you would be in danger if you returned to the mortal world, so she tried to stop you. And you attacked her to get free!” “I never knew you could be so cruel. She just gave birth, she’s weak. Now she’s hemorrhaging. Are you trying to kill her? Bringing you back was my obsession for a million years. Now that my wish has been fulfilled, we are even.” He picked up Lily, his eyes red. “You wanted a divorce? Fine. I’ll give you a divorce.” He cut off a lock of his hair and threw it at my feet. As he left, he sneered, “You have no idea what the mortal world is like now. I bet in three days, you’ll be on your knees, praying at my statue, begging me to come get you.” I turned my back to him and swallowed the last of my tears. “You’re mistaken, Your Majesty. You and I… we will never meet again.” And I jumped.

? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "385167", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel