ISTIMB 1

#1.

I Refuse the Guillotine

This is a dream.

A vicious nightmare and a painfully obvious cliché.

And it’s my favorite scene.

“Tyrant Nikolai and villainess Elizabeth shall be executed!”

Claudia, the female lead of The Silver Knight, cries out.

She has the silver hair that shines like the sky and piercingly clear blue eyes, just as the book described.

I’d re-read that female-led fantasy—what people call a “female lead” fantasy—over and over because of Claudia.

She was especially beautiful and, of course, strong—my absolute favorite.

I admired her.

Whenever I read Claudia’s adventures, my dreary life would temporarily fade away.

What would it feel like to be possessed by Claudia?

If I could just be with her, even as a supporting role, that would be fine!

I made the ridiculous wish to be incarnated into a book.

I didn’t think it would happen like this.

“I’m innocent! It was all Nikolai—he told me to do it!”

A metallic, chilling voice slides out of my throat.

The heiress of a colossal trading house and the villainess who led the empire to ruin—Elizabeth.

That is me.

“Aren’t you sorry for the people who died because of you?”

Claudia stares at me with an expressionless face.

I answer like a true villain.

“Who did I even kill?! Go bring me a corpse!”

“See—there’s not an ounce of remorse.”

“You’re doing this out of jealousy, Claudia. Because Douglas, who you liked, chose me? How is that my fault?”

A bright blue flame flickers in Claudia’s eyes.

It subsides quickly and calm returns.

“By the will of the empire’s people, the criminal will be punished.”

She speaks like the stern, unyielding ultimate female knight she is.

If I weren’t kneeling at the guillotine, I’d be raving about her till my mouth went dry.

“The crimes of seducing numerous men including the Marquis of Nettleton. Crimes of ruining the state together with the tyrant. Crimes of squandering the treasury and assassinating empresses.”

Claudia recites Elizabeth’s transgressions.

She lists the tyrant Emperor Nikolai’s charges, too.

“Using the emperor’s power to kidnap women. Treating them as playthings. Abandoning the emperor’s duty. Bringing shame to the Hartmann Empire with immoral conduct…”

Even if Douglas hadn’t been involved, Claudia would have executed the villainess and tyrant to set justice right.

Elizabeth and Nikolai committed far too many crimes.

But I’m innocent.

I don’t want to die like this.

Regardless of my will, the dream repeats.

“Everything is ready!”

The knights bind the tyrant and me to the pair of guillotines.

The crowd goes wild.

Finally, Claudia gives a stern order.

“Carry out the execution!”

At that moment the taut rope is cut, the sharpened blade falls, and it sinks into my neck.

“AAAH!”

I scream and wake up.

Shaking hands check my intact throat.

It still doesn’t feel real.

That I’m alive, and that I’ve been possessed by Elizabeth.

Kim Yena, twenty-two, born and raised in South Korea, died while doing overseas volunteer work.

She gave her oxygen respirator to a child even while she was herself dying from a deadly infection.

Light washed over the swamp of death.

「A special privilege is offered to the righteous deceased. Do you wish to go to heaven? Or to another world?」

Of course I thought it was a dream.

「Please possess me. Everyone does it at least once, right? If it’s possible, possess me into a story I loved.」

I answered with a snort of laughter.

That was a month ago.

“Dying as a villainess and being possessed—pfft. Isn’t that the most obvious cliché?”

I sighed as if the ground could swallow me.

Even aside from the nightly nightmare, Elizabeth’s life was pure suffering.

She hadn’t even met the tyrant yet, nor had she killed anyone.

From my experience so far, Elizabeth was this kind of woman:

1. A party animal who enjoyed all-night parties 365 days a year.

2. A lavish consumer who would wake up for the finest jewels and dresses.

3. A selfish person full of inferiority complex about her commoner origins.

4. An extreme man-catcher—obsessed with handsome men.

Number four was especially problematic.

A girl raised in a land of courtesy and Confucian values wouldn’t suddenly change overnight, right?

“Having two-timing isn’t enough—you go for three, four men? Isn’t that too much? You’re just a rich heiress at best, not nobility.”

Elizabeth was beautiful.

Not just pretty—dangerously gorgeous.

Her hair was a vivid crimson as if it had been bleached and dyed four times, with thick curls that held without a curling iron.

Her black eyes were mysteriously different—both similar to and unlike my previous life’s eyes.

But Elizabeth didn’t reign as the queen of the social scene because of looks alone.

It wasn’t only thanks to doting rich parents who pampered their only daughter.

Elizabeth had a special power. The kind that fits a novel’s villainess perfectly.

“Nancy says the Marquis of Nettleton is here to see you.”

Nancy, my maid, reported in a timid voice.

She seemed afraid of the sharp, irritable command I might give.

“I’ll be down shortly. Tell him to wait a bit.”

I answered in the most reasonable way, and Nancy’s eyes widened.

“Miss! Are you unwell again? Has your fever come back?”

“I’ve told you a hundred times—I’m fine.”

“But there is no way our miss would be like this! You nearly died and came back—maybe your head is strange!”

Nancy fusses while touching my forehead.

It doesn’t feel great, but I feel her genuine concern.

What’s good about an owner who treated servants like used tissues?

‘Elizabeth became a man-eater because of the original setting. Everyone around her kept saying how beautiful she was and coddled her.’

Villainess Elizabeth’s character was a seductive femme fatale.

She had the power to enthrall people.

If she set her mind to it, she could seduce anyone.

There were exceptions, but usually one wink was enough.

A kiss that passed sticky saliva? Game over.

Those targeted would become obedient slaves who sat when Elizabeth told them to sit and rolled when told to roll.

How she acquired this strange ability, no one knew.

It was just a setting—what could I do about it?

The problem was that I’d have to handle that power from now on.

“Elisabeth, could you reconsider annulling the engagement?”

Douglas asked in a polite, cautious tone.

His soft, pinkish hair—like pink muhly grass—cast a deep shadow over his handsome face.

Douglas, the Marquis of Nettleton and Elizabeth’s ex-fiancé, was Claudia’s long-time crush in the original story.

‘If this had been a standard romance novel, he’d have been the male lead.’

Unfortunately The Silver Knight is a female-lead fantasy.

Douglas—head of a fallen marquis family and a would-be novelist—wasn’t that important a character.

Claudia took revenge on Elizabeth who toyed with Douglas, but by the end she chose the sword over love.

‘Douglas is a supporting character who realizes too late that he loves Claudia after being dragged around by the villainess. He’s not a bad guy. He married Elizabeth because of his father’s debts and truly loved her. And Elizabeth hadn’t used her charm on him then.’

Shortly before I was possessed, Elizabeth had broken her engagement with Douglas.

It was because she’d fallen for the bait of one noblewoman.

「Do you really want to become the queen of the social scene? Then seduce His Majesty!」

What a childish taunt.

Sadly, Elizabeth was more than childish—she was a simple woman.

「You think I can’t do it? If I’m going to aim higher than a marquess’s wife, I’ll go for the empress!」

Because Elizabeth loudly proclaimed this, Douglas’s reputation was dragged through the mud.

Some even said the Nettleton marquis family—one of the five great houses—should be expelled from the aristocratic council.

‘For Claudia, who wished happiness for her first love, this must have felt like thunder from a clear sky. Even after the annulment, Elizabeth taunted Douglas, so Claudia’s anger towards Elizabeth reached its peak.’

I touched my throat without realizing it.

After being executed night after night, I desperately wanted to live.

Just one night away from the guillotine to sleep soundly would be enough.

If I could twist the original plot, would this terrible nightmare end?

How could I possibly defeat that ultimate female knight?

For a month I analyzed the original story like a madwoman.

I put all my energy into understanding and getting used to this world.

As a result, I came up with a few plans.

“Douglas—do you still have feelings for me? Aren’t you tired of being ridiculed?”

I asked as harshly and obnoxiously as possible, like the novel’s villainess.

But Douglas’s gaze at me was as sweet as a cake topped with whipped cream.

“I don’t care what others say.”

“We are nothing to each other now. Completely!”

“If it weren’t for Elizabeth and the Amster trading house, the Nettleton family wouldn’t have even maintained their lineage.”

“You seem more concerned about your precious reputation than your exes. Niko, Jordan, Addy, Armor, Lance….”

I made up a string of boyfriends who couldn’t exist in this world.

Douglas didn’t care. He even blamed himself.

“What crime does Elizabeth bear? It’s my fault for not keeping men away.”

“You’re still foolish and exasperating. That’s why I left you.”

I tried to stay calm, but Douglas’s pupils wavered like a sailboat in a storm.

‘To avoid the guillotine, I need to separate Douglas from Claudia first. Then I’ll place a bridge of love between Claudia and Douglas. If her unrequited love is fulfilled, Claudia might change. From now on my dream is to be a matchmaker!’

Luckily I was reborn as a wealthy beauty.

But I didn’t want to die while tormented by nightmares every night.

I especially didn’t want to be executed by my favorite character’s hand.

“My only sister Susan still can’t accept our annulment. You treated her kindly, didn’t you, Elizabeth?”

“Tell Susan that though Douglas and I are done, our friendship remains.”

“Don’t you realize I’m the only one for him?”

“I don’t. People’s hearts change as easily as flipping a palm.”

“Elizabeth….”

“What about that female knight, then? She’s heavier than a pen and will protect Douglas sturdily.”

Douglas’s expression darkened further.

Guilt became a sharp needle stabbing at my heart.

It’s not easy to put up walls against someone courting you.

Unfortunately, I was inexperienced and Douglas was far more handsome than I had imagined.

‘Health and longevity are more important than handsome faces. Don’t be swayed by that wistful expression! Don’t look at those long, elegant fingers!’

Just as I was calming my trembling heart, Douglas took a book out of his leather bag.

“Embarrassing as it is, please accept this. It’s my heart.”

‘What? A book? His debut as a novelist is still a long way off, isn’t it?’

Even after the annulment, Elizabeth used Douglas as an accessory to make herself shine.

Unlike the original, I refused to see Douglas.

I didn’t expect that to stoke his creative drive.

Douglas wrote a smash-hit romance novel called The Empire’s Red Star far quicker than in the original.

What could this possibly mean?

“The editor says the bookstore response is very enthusiastic.”

“What’s it about?”

“It’s the story of a woman born to be loved and the man who watches her.”

He spoke shyly yet proudly.

Even having fulfilled a long-standing dream, what mattered most to him was me.

“If it offends you, I’ll collect and burn them all.”

All he wanted were some warm words and a small smile.

Suddenly I envied Elizabeth.

‘When Kim Yena died, everything was full of regret. Tuition fees, living expenses—life was one part-time job after another. Romance? First kiss? What are those—someone’s pet dog’s name? I only went to volunteer overseas because they paid the airfare and living costs. It wasn’t out of any noble virtue.’

If I’d known I’d die in a foreign land, I would’ve lived differently.

Now that I’m Elizabeth, I don’t want to leave another set of regrets.

There’s no time to waste.

So I coldly and harshly threw Douglas’s first hard-earned work—the earnest devotion written for Elizabeth—back at him.

With an expression of irritation and indignation.

“Burn them or don’t—do what you like. Don’t bother me.”

I gulp down cold water.

My tongue, which had spat out that harshness, still feels rough.

But there’s no time to feel sorry for Douglas; I need to hurry with the second plan.

“As long as the villainous emperor does his usual work, Claudia will start a revolution. To avoid the guillotine, I have to change Nikolai’s character. I’ll seduce the tyrant and turn him into a benevolent ruler!”

If Casanova the emperor became a sage-king who benefited the people, and the femme fatale villainess behaved like a respectable noblewoman, Claudia’s justification for revolution would vanish.

This is a tall order for a homebody who’s never had a relationship.

But a bewitching femme fatale could do it.

I wouldn’t run away from the original. I’d seduce the tyrant just like the original, only with the opposite outcome!

“Okay, shall we go to the party then?”

I clutch my ball mask for the dance tightly.

I still can’t guess where fate will roll me.

Sometimes ridiculous, sometimes playful, and mostly unpredictable—one man will soon shake up my life.