In the modern-day romance novel *Cage of the Dark Night*, the female protagonist is transported into the story and becomes Serena, a disposable stand-in wife. The original protagonist was framed by the “perfect woman,” Vivian, and ultimately met a tragic death in the basement. Shortly after arriving, Serena stumbles upon a staged scene where Vivian pretends to be pushed down the stairs—and unexpectedly awakens the “Arae” spell, causing her spoken words to come true. At the same time, the male lead, Killian, unexpectedly gains the ability to hear her inner thoughts. Vivian repeatedly schemes to make life difficult for Serena, bribing servants to humiliate her, but her plots backfire due to Serena’s curse, causing the malicious servants to suffer one after another. Vivian then injures herself and frames Serena for stabbing someone; fortunately, Killian sees through the scheme thanks to the thoughts he overheard. Later, Killian takes Serena to the old man’s birthday party. Unwilling to accept defeat, Vivian secretly plots, inciting Jackson to drug Serena with the intention of ruining her reputation in public. Serena fell victim to the drug and was taken to a side room, but she used her verbal curse to turn the tables, leaving Jackson bound. Just as Killian, along with a group of guests incited by Vivian, kicked open the side room door to catch them in the act, only a disheveled, bound Jackson remained inside, while Serena appeared from behind the crowd—completely thwarting Vivian’s meticulously planned trap.
