🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 3 — Surviving as a Terminally Ill Villainess
“House Head, that was so satisfying! You were incredible today as well!”
“How despicable of him to deliberately spread his oppressive aura. He knew perfectly well that the House Head was waiting for him!”
“And even after trying to intimidate you like that, our House Head wasn’t affected in the slightest. Heh, those beasts trying to suppress mages!”
What are they talking about? Why are they misunderstanding things so badly? I almost fainted from fear.
I suddenly felt exhausted, yet my body still refused to move according to my own will.
As I started walking somewhere, the people trailing after me like clingy shadows kept showering me with endless flattery.
They certainly seemed full of energy as they chattered away.
From what I’d gathered, these people were mages, and the relationship between them and that man from earlier was absolutely terrible.
Goosebumps spread over my skin.
So… doesn’t this setting sound exactly like The Tyrant Emperor’s Heart Was Imprinted?
In The Tyrant Emperor’s Heart Was Imprinted, the relationship between mages and Espers was just as terrible.
If that man from earlier was the male lead—the Emperor—then the Duke of Hilaria, his political rival and the story’s villain…
…that meant it was me.
No way.
I got caught in a Gate Rampage, was killed by monsters, and then woke up inside a novel?
Ha.
How was that even possible?
Even as people continued praising the House Head while escorting me somewhere, the compliments didn’t stop until we arrived before an extravagant door.
“Please get some rest, House Head!”
“We’ll visit you again this afternoon!”
The door closed behind me with a thud.
Inside was a spacious yet painfully barren room.
It looked like someone’s office.
And finally—
“Haah!”
Control of my body returned to me.
I immediately collapsed onto the floor.
“Is this really… a novel? Did I actually die?”
The moment I remembered it, my teeth began chattering and my shoulders trembled violently.
That pain hadn’t been an illusion.
I had died a horrific death.
But…
A memory that felt like a dream surfaced.
Those keyword selections I had seen just before opening my eyes here.
It had looked exactly like a game.
Right.
There was that.
The status window.
I had to check whether what I’d seen was real.
“…Status Window.”
Ugh…
This is so embarrassing.
I screamed internally.
It had seemed completely normal whenever protagonists said it in novels.
Reality was different.
How was I supposed to say that every day?
Fortunately, I hadn’t made a fool of myself.
The same window I had seen earlier appeared before my eyes again, this time filled with black text.
[Welcome to the world of The Tyrant Emperor’s Heart Was Imprinted, which you have selected.]
Damn it.
So I hadn’t imagined it.
“I really died… and woke up inside a novel.”
Your favorite novel is only fun when you’re reading it.
Imagine being thrown into it instead.
Would you laugh?
Or cry?
Below that was the word Character.
Everything else was marked with ???, as though it hadn’t been unlocked yet.
When I pressed Character, the text changed.
[Duke Hilaria Daen La Ariel (21)]
My information.
Ah…
Damn it.
I grabbed my hair.
Fine.
Whatever.
Fine, I possessed someone in a novel.
But why…
Why did it have to be the villain who dies halfway through the story?
What kind of sick joke was this?
I wanted to live.
I had definitely wished to survive.
Then why this?
Should I abandon the original story immediately and run away?
At that moment, as if mocking my thoughts, the status window changed.
[Achievement Unlocked!
You have checked your Status Window.
Reward Granted.
Reward: Original Story Begins. You cannot leave the domain of the original story.]
As if telling me…
There was no escape.
Then another message appeared.
[Emergency Quest!
You are Duke Ariel, the respected leader of all mages and one of the novel’s central pillars.
Therefore, until you obtain the qualification of ????, do not let anyone discover that you are not the real Duke Ariel.
Success: Stable Happiness
Failure: Death of the Soul]
My face twisted instantly.
“What…?
Are you kidding me?”
BOOOOM!
“Your Majesty! A Grade-2 monster is advancing from the front! We’ll incinerate the monsters in the rear!”
At the knight’s shout, he slowly drew upon his power.
Immediately, a splitting headache surged through him with hateful familiarity.
Ha.
Emperor Kaisis drove an ice spear downward, his expression betraying none of the agony ripping through his head.
“SKREEEECH!”
Green blood splattered.
“Charge!”
“Attack its legs!”
After piercing the heart of the gigantic mantis-like monster, the awakened knights waiting nearby followed his command, attacking its arms and legs.
Brilliant supernatural abilities exploded in every direction.
Unable to resist, the monster lost its balance and toppled heavily to one side.
The cave shook with a deafening crash as dust billowed through the air.
Blocking the dust with a shield of ice, Kaisis looked ahead.
His knights stood there covered in dirt, all wearing radiant smiles.
His knights.
The Emperor’s swords.
Men who might die at any moment when the inhuman power inside them lost control.
“Your Majesty, all remaining monsters have been eliminated. Shall we prepare to withdraw?”
Watching them bow their heads in unwavering loyalty, he gave a slow nod.
They probably didn’t know.
They couldn’t possibly know.
That a rampaging power felt like countless shards of ice freezing his lungs every time he exhaled.
The power coursing through the blood of an awakened one constantly carved into his heart and flesh.
Because he was an exceptionally powerful awakened one.
And because there was no suitable Guide for him.
Awakened ones who slaughtered monsters with mysterious powers.
Guides capable of calming those raging abilities.
There had been countless Guides.
Yet none had ever granted him lasting peace.
Their abilities always left him wanting.
None could soothe the burning agony or the freezing pain consuming him.
Kaisis let out a cold laugh.
Perhaps enduring such unbearable pain with every breath had twisted his personality this badly.
And eventually…
He would reach his limit.
“Y-Your Majesty… An A-rank Guide is waiting outside. One of the three who stabilized you last time. Shall I bring them in?”
The Knight Commander cautiously approached.
Thinking about the three Guides who had all collapsed unconscious after pouring every ounce of their power into him last time, Kaisis frowned.
When he watched other awakened ones smiling brightly while holding hands with their Guides as though they’d found paradise…
He found it ridiculous.
The Guides who took his hand usually fainted.
Or rolled back their eyes while screaming.
Because of that, every Guide who approached the Emperor did so in obvious terror.
As though he were some kind of monster.
It was revolting.
Which was why…
That woman.
There was only one person whom Kaisis referred to that way.
Hilaria Daen La Ariel.
His rival.
His political enemy.
The young master of the Mage Tower, whose faction had opposed the imperial family for generations.
She was irritating.
Insufferable.
Someone he couldn’t stand.
But one thing about her never annoyed him.
She had never feared him.
Yet today…
Something had felt different.
Like a fishbone stuck in his throat, the earlier incident resurfaced.
She actually grabbed my collar.
That wasn’t like her at all.
He hated to admit it, but even he had been genuinely surprised.
Especially those crimson eyes that had trembled as though she herself had been the one most startled.
They had felt unbearably unfamiliar.
Ridiculous. Why am I thinking about that woman?
His usual irritation flared.
“Your Majesty! Hurry! Bring the waiting Guide! Your Majesty, please sit down. Would you like some water?”
“So…
Noisy.”
His ears rang violently.
As he covered them with an irritated frown, he could clearly sense the panic spreading among his knights.
“My apologies!”
With every beat of his heart, freezing energy surged through his veins.
His power, influenced by his emotions, brought with it even sharper pain.
His head felt as though it were splitting apart.
“Ugh.”
“Your Majesty, you mustn’t lose consciousness! Where is the Guide?!”
Everyone tensed at his increasingly terrifying expression.
Through the crowd came a slender Guide, walking stiffly toward him.
“Y-Your Majesty…
I’ll stabilize you…”
Trembling, the Guide carefully reached out and clasped his hand.
Every movement screamed fear.
Disgust.
The desperate urge to run away.
His lips twisted.
The power flowing into him only made his unbearable thirst worse.
It wasn’t enough.
It couldn’t melt the freezing agony tearing through his heart.
“Ah… ngh…! Y-Your Majesty… just a little longer…!”
While Kaisis suffered from the pitifully insufficient power, the Guide struggled desperately, veins bulging from exertion.
Trying to endure something painful.
Something repulsive.
Their compatibility was the worst possible.
A bitter laugh escaped him.
What else could he expect?
This was simply Kaisis’s fate.
Once again, like a starving beast, he longed for the peace that never came.
Surely…
Somewhere in this world…
There had to be someone.
The salvation that stubbornly refused to come to him.
One week later.
Today, after spending every day pretending to be the arrogant Duke just to avoid losing control of my body…
I stood before a mirror, preparing myself for another audience with the Emperor.
“What kind of noble council meets once every three days?”
During this past week, I’d organized my thoughts.
In the end…
I wanted to live.
