Chapter 1…

 Her Bedroom

Today, I died.

The cause was a traffic accident.

The moment I threw myself to save a student who was about to be hit by a 25-ton truck, a blinding light poured in as if to burst my eyes, and then—darkness.

Since I saved a life, it wasn’t a meaningless death, but it was still a hollow end.

But when I opened my eyes again, fully aware that I had died—

“Waaahhh!”

I was crying. Crying bitterly, in fact.

The chandelier covering the ceiling and the terrifyingly luxurious room doubled my fear.

At that moment, someone lifted me up.

“Baby, please don’t cry.”

Baby?

Strange title aside, why is this woman wearing a dress?

‘Wait, wait a minute!’

A medieval setting, an unfamiliar language—and me understanding it.

This must be—

While I whimpered in the woman’s arms, I quickly found the answer.

‘The classic opening of a romance fantasy possession novel!’

I didn’t know if this should be called reincarnation or possession, but who cared about definitions right now?

‘Amazing. All those monthly CocoaPaper cash top-ups finally paid off!’

So this is the reward for throwing my life away to save someone!

Rejoicing inwardly, I instantly brightened up, eyes twinkling as if I’d never cried.

“Oh my, you’re already opening your eyes and even smiling. How adorable you are.”

From my romance fantasy reader’s intuition, this woman was most likely not my mother.

‘Given the context, she’s probably a nanny. But there are so many brown-haired, brown-eyed maids in these stories, I can’t pinpoint which novel I’ve fallen into yet.’

First, I needed to figure out which of the many romance fantasies I’d ended up in.

Usually, it was either a story you enjoyed reading the most or one that left a strong impression.

Or maybe some flop that only I ever read.

Either way, it didn’t matter!

Handsome male leads, heroines, here I come!

Drunk on my daydreams, I even forgot I had hiccups, and carefully started running through the list of memorable works I’d read.

By the time I reached the twenty-third title, another woman—wearing the same dress as the one holding me—hurried into the room.

“Lady Klein!”

Her face was pale as though something terrible had happened.

“His Majesty said he must check on his daughter the moment he woke up. He’s on his way here! Shouldn’t we move the baby somewhere safe first?”

His Majesty? Daughter?

In their anxious conversation, I caught those powerful words clearly.

‘No way… I’m a princess?’

Unable to clap my tiny hands because of the swaddling, I instead kicked my weak little feet.

From the moment they called me “baby,” I’d suspected I wasn’t just some commoner.

But still, I thought maybe at most I was a young lady of a good family.

‘If I’m really a princess, that’s beyond a gold spoon—it’s being born with a pink diamond spoon!’

“To think I’d end up as a ‘born the Emperor’s daughter’ case!”

Excited, I eagerly tried to predict the story ahead.

‘Judging by their reactions, the Emperor must be a terrifying person. And I’m just a baby princess. Tyrant Emperor plus adorable baby—this must be…’

Option 1: A childcare story.

Oh no, I just want to live quietly, but everyone loves me! Fine, I’ll win them all over and conquer the world!

Option 2: A family-regret story.

You abused me in my past life, didn’t you? Now watch me wither you with my cool suitors and tear apart my family!

Honestly, I didn’t care. As long as it was romance fantasy!

After all, I devoured every kind of trope. This was the payoff!

“His Imperial Majesty enters!”

At the loud cry, Klein’s arms began to tremble.

The younger woman, called Senya, was already on the verge of tears.

Amid this tense, frightening atmosphere, I was alone in a different kind of excitement.

‘Is the Emperor handsome? Of course he must be!’

My toothless mouth broke into a silly grin.

I could swear it was the brightest smile I’d ever worn in both my past and present lives.

‘Welcome, Daddy! Or should I say Papa? Maybe even “Dada” for my first word.’

In my past life, I’d grown up without proper parents, but calling a stranger “Dad” didn’t feel strange at all.

Definitely not because he was the Emperor. Absolutely not!

“Is this… it?”

But the moment the presumed Emperor spoke, my silly grin froze.

Not because he called his own child “it.”

In most romance fantasies, cold and indifferent fathers eventually melted with affection anyway.

The problem was the Emperor’s voice.

‘…A woman?’

It was husky, but undeniably female.

“Y-Your Majesty!”

Only when I saw Klein’s horrified face did I realize I was dangling in midair.

Even with my vision blurred, I was certain—the one holding me by the scruff of my neck was the Emperor!

“Your Highness, the baby’s neck is too weak—this is dangerous…!”

Pale with fright, Klein reached out, but the Emperor defiantly raised me higher.

At last, I could see her face clearly.

Unlike all the “childcare fathers” I’d read before, the Emperor was a woman.

But what shocked me wasn’t her gender.

‘Wow…’

The first thing that struck me was her hair, cascading like a wave from her waist, so black it looked as if it had stolen the night sky.

Then, her fierce eyes—violet, close to crimson, shining like rare jewels.

And finally, her striking features—bold enough to capture attention even without makeup.

In short, the Emperor—my “mother”—was stunning.

‘An incredible beauty!’

At that moment, I quietly buried my old dream of being the female lead’s best friend, watching romance unfold up close.

I even crushed my silly fantasy of being entangled with some side male character.

‘Forget it—I’ll just live my whole life as a filial daughter!’

Just staring at my beautiful mother’s face would make my life fulfilling enough.

‘All other fathers, step aside. My mom is the best.’

But before I could smile in awe, her icy words shut my mouth.

“So I gave birth to this thing.”

Her eyes held no affection, not even a hint of humanity.

The atmosphere was ten times darker than I’d expected.

‘Uh… weren’t the other fathers at least not this scary?’

A beat too late, unease began to creep in.

“She’s so beautiful, isn’t she? She looks just like Your Majesty’s violet eyes. And she has the hair of Duke Dilloheim…”

“Senya. Whose name are you daring to utter before me?”

Before she even finished, both women dropped to the floor, trembling.

“I-I’m so sorry, Your Majesty. I misspoke.”

Shaking in terror, they begged for forgiveness. The Emperor’s eyes were merciless.

“You’ll pay for that slip—after I deal with this first.”

With a chilling voice, she tossed me into the cradle.

It was soft enough not to hurt, but then she drew her sword, sending me into panic for another reason.

‘W-what? She’s going to kill the baby—her own child?’

The long, blood-red blade in her hand was no toy.

Easily brushing aside the crying women, the Emperor never took her eyes off me, gripping the sword in reverse.

A female Emperor. A crimson blade. Violet eyes. A tyrant.

…Don’t tell me—

The moment her lips curled into a cruel smile, I finally realized which story I’d landed in.

The R-rated romance fantasy novel, The Mad Emperor’s Red Bedroom!

The story began when the heroine’s stepbrother—a tyrant who collected beautiful men, Zeusia Kishtban—kidnapped him.

To rescue her brother, the heroine disguised herself as a man and infiltrated the Emperor’s harem, enduring countless trials in a morally questionable narrative.

As the title suggested, over 70% of the story took place in the bedroom.

And whenever Zeusia appeared, half the chapter warnings alone filled three pages.

Still, thanks to its undeniable “entertainment value,” The Mad Emperor’s Red Bedroom was hailed as a “secret masterpiece.”

I was one of those secret readers—and honestly, I reread it multiple times.

So I could swear on my life: the Emperor before me was none other than Zeusia, the main villain of the novel.

The problem? In the story, Zeusia never had a child.

Which meant—

“I’ll end this in one strike.”

I had been reincarnated as the doomed princess fated to die the moment she was born.

Damn it, life…