I Possessed the Wicked Empress (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 2
“Go ahead and do as you please.”
Henri replied carelessly, as if it were of no importance, and immediately headed to his study with his valet.
Just as Ermedilin was about to return to her quarters, Valière stopped her.
“Your Imperial Majesty.”
An unreadable glint flickered in her hazel eyes.
“What is it?”
“You truly are admirable—to set such an example during these turbulent times for the nation.”
“So what?”
Ermedilin kept her expression blank and replied in a flat, emotionless tone, unwilling to reveal any intention.
“Who knows? If you keep pleasing His Majesty like this, perhaps one day he’ll grant you shared chambers.”
Valière smiled brightly, without a shadow of doubt, as if she genuinely wished for that outcome.
Yet, unless one were utterly foolish, it wouldn’t be hard to discern the bitter intent hidden behind her sweet voice.
‘Was the female lead really like this? I thought she was supposed to be foolishly kind and overflowing with naive righteousness?’
Seeing Valière stab a dagger into Ermedilin’s heart while wearing an innocent smile made her briefly wonder if she’d mixed up the novel she’d possessed.
‘No, that can’t be. This is the only romance fantasy novel I ever properly read.’
Ermedilin forcibly pushed aside her inexplicable unease and spoke in a voice befitting an empress—graceful and poised.
“Indeed. On that day, I might even be the first to produce the heir the entire empire so eagerly awaits.”
In her previous life, she’d left the orphanage before even reaching adulthood and was forced into society to survive on her own, working desperately just to stay alive.
It was Hye-young, the tenacious orphan, who gritted her teeth and endured every dirty, underhanded act thrown at her because of her vulnerability.
Insults of this caliber from Valière couldn’t even leave a scratch on her soul.
Valière’s eyes, still smiling brightly, visibly cooled as she realized her provocation had failed.
Though it was obvious Ermedilin’s reaction had caught her off guard, Valière’s expression remained perfectly composed.
‘Hmm… She’s not as purely innocent as the novel described, it seems.’
Ermedilin and Valière stood silently for a moment, staring intently at each other.
Though it lasted only an instant, both scrutinized the other’s expression and even their breathing, silently assessing one another.
Watching Valière’s retreating back—leaving with one last meaningful glance—Ermedilin wondered whether the original novel’s depiction had been accurate.
‘Right. There’s such a thing as the “female lead buff.” Even if her personality was truly like this, only her “female lead-like” words and actions might have been shown. Then again, perhaps Ermedilin also suffered from a “villainess buff.” Maybe there’s some untold backstory the original never revealed.’
She was in a foul mood.
After all, wasn’t she the empress?
No matter how much imperial favor Valière enjoyed, to openly provoke her like this was outrageous.
And for herself—after enduring such an affront—to merely retort and nothing more?
‘Ermedilin! Couldn’t you have lived a little better?! Why didn’t you live better?!’
Her mounting irritation finally exploded completely upon seeing her personal ledger.
She’d assumed she was wealthy—the novel described her as greedy and extravagantly luxurious—but her personal balance was nearly zero.
‘What? She accepted all those bribes but has no accumulated wealth?’
Ermedilin let out a hollow laugh from sheer disbelief.
She’d boldly declared she’d fund relief efforts for the plague, yet she had no money.
She needed to restore her reputation quickly and secure a smooth divorce to avoid ending up as barbecue, yet she was broke.
Frustration etched a faint line between Ermedilin’s elegant brows.
The maids dared not even breathe loudly, too afraid of Ermedilin’s sharp gaze.
“Bring me all my jewels. I’ll sell every last one for coin.”
The maids bit their lips, looking deeply troubled, and bowed their heads.
“Didn’t you hear me? I must have jewels and valuables. Go fetch them.”
Ermedilin tried her best to speak gently, but her voice still carried an unmistakable note of desperation.
One maid reluctantly went to Ermedilin’s wardrobe and returned shortly after.
In her hands was a very small box.
Inside lay only one necklace, two pairs of earrings, and a single bracelet.
Ah, and the two rings on her fingers.
But the rings symbolizing the imperial house and her birth family weren’t items she could sell—they’d be useless even if kept.
“Is this all?”
The maids trembled violently and nodded.
She’d heard Ermedilin was pathologically obsessed with glittering minerals—even embezzling from the national treasury—yet there was neither cash nor precious metals.
“Why is there only this much?”
For just a moment, she suspected the maids, but quickly dismissed the thought.
They were trembling like aspen leaves—it was unthinkable they’d dare lay hands on Ermedilin’s belongings.
‘Besides, you shouldn’t suspect people so easily. You know better than anyone how unjust that feels.’
In her past life, merely having a few hundred won missing from the register while working part-time at a convenience store was enough for her—the orphan—to be the first suspect.
No matter how uprightly she behaved, she was always the one singled out for suspicion.
Baseless accusations had taught her sorrow long before they taught her anger.
At Ermedilin’s question, the maids dropped to their knees and bowed so deeply their foreheads nearly touched the floor.
“Not long ago, you said you urgently needed funds and sold off the remaining jewels. We merely kept what was left afterward. We never touched your jewel case, Your Imperial Majesty! Please spare us!”
She hadn’t even voiced suspicion, yet the maids suddenly burst into tears—leaving her utterly flustered.
‘Ugh, just how terrible must this woman’s personality have been?’
Ermedilin sighed softly and sat down facing the kneeling maids.
“Hiiik!!!”
The moment she placed a reassuring hand on a maid’s shoulder, the girl gasped as if choking.
“G-g-gahhh!! P-please spare me!! I truly didn’t touch anything!!”
Looking closely at the maid—who’d fallen backward and was frantically rubbing her hands—she appeared to be barely in her late teens.
The other two maids seemed around the same age.
‘Right, the novel mentioned her specialty was curses—especially the infamous decay curse that rotted wherever she made contact.’
Understanding the situation, Ermedilin withdrew her hand and returned to her seat.
“I’m not doubting you. I simply thought there’d be more left… I only wanted to check.”
Seeing Ermedilin press a hand to her forehead and speak with weary resignation, the maids began hiccuping.
They’d all braced for the Empress’s temper or a retaliatory curse—but such an unexpectedly gentle reaction instantly dissolved their tension.
‘What am I to do? Ermedilin’s maids changed constantly—either dying or fleeing. That’s how it always was.’
Judging by the atmosphere, counting on the maids’ help seemed hopeless.
Even if they’d served a long time, she couldn’t openly ask about her own personal affairs.
Since the novel was narrated entirely from Valière’s perspective—the heroine—there was simply no way to know the Empress’s financial situation.
‘But if she sold everything, why keep these jewels? Is there a special reason?’
Ermedilin lifted the necklace—elegant black pearls strung with a large, deep blue sapphire pendant—and let it dangle from her finger.
The pearls clinked together with a pleasant, melodic sound.
‘Hmm… A sapphire this size should fetch a decent price. Should I sell this at least?’
As she examined the necklace with a despondent expression, she noticed a tiny clasp on the back of the pendant.
‘Can this be opened?’
She grasped the clasp and pulled, but the pendant wouldn’t budge.
Its slightly convex shape clearly indicated something was hidden inside.
‘I’ll leave it for now.’
After rummaging through her bedroom for a while in search of clues, she found a thick diary tucked deep inside a drawer.
‘Huh? Could this be it?’
The very diary that had sealed Ermedilin’s fate in the novel.
It contained detailed accounts of all her past misdeeds and had been used as key evidence leading to her death sentence.
‘Wait… How was this opened again?’
Unlike Valière—the heroine, who was described with relative nuance—Ermedilin’s scenes were only elaborated when she committed evil acts.
Piecing together the scant information in her memory, it suddenly came to her.
‘Blood! She always used her own blood to seal things! Later, when casting powerful curses, she even used infants’ blood—that’s what finally got her caught.’
She faintly recalled reading that a sorcerer’s lineage was crucial for magic.
In that regard, Ermedilin had exploited her bloodline to the fullest—as a witch who spared no blood, hers or others’, for her curses.
Spotting a sharp fountain pen on the desk, she grimaced.
‘Ugh.’
No matter how sharp, drawing blood with a pen wasn’t easy.
She stabbed her fingertip as if tearing flesh, and finally a small bead of blood formed.
Frantically smearing the bloodied finger onto the diary, the thick cover finally sprang open.
‘Phew… Thank goodness. Only a tiny amount was needed.’
Reading the diary, she finally understood why Empress Ermedilin’s finances were in such a state.
Most of the money she earned flowed directly into her birth family—the House of Duke François.
‘Wait, why send it home? Weren’t they supposed to be wealthier than the imperial family according to the setting?’
Regardless of the reason, the diary—or rather, ledger—meticulously recorded the dates and amounts she’d lent to her father.
‘But is this really the evidence? It’s just a financial ledger—no suspicious expenditures visible.’
She flipped through the diary for a long while, searching for other content, but found nothing noteworthy.
Only the staggering sum she’d lent to her birth family stood out.
‘A diary merely detailing debts couldn’t have been the decisive evidence. There must be another diary somewhere with truly damning contents…’
After pondering for a while, she even began to suspect Duke François might have encouraged his daughter’s downfall to avoid repaying the debt.
‘Whatever the truth, I need money now. It’s better to assume I have no birth family—after all, they stayed silent when their daughter was sentenced to death despite all the money she lent them.’
Escaping destitution was her top priority.
After all, how could she win favor without money?
“Could you send a message home? Ask them to visit the palace.”
Ermedilin resolved to recover at least part of the money she’d lent.
“Home… You mean…?”
“Of course, the House of Duke François.”
“R-right now?”
She’d only asked them to send word for her father to visit, yet the maids began trembling again.
“Yes. Right now. Why, is that a problem?”
She’d been about to ask if there was a particular reason, but even her casual question seemed threatening to the maids.
“No! We’ll contact them immediately!”
If her memory served, a private magic circle connected the Duke’s residence and the palace.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, he should arrive within an hour or two.
As Ermedilin sat quietly, surveying the unfamiliar imperial quarters, the pendant from earlier suddenly popped into her mind.
‘Ah—could it be that opening the pendant also requires this body’s blood?’
Reopening a fresh wound hurt even in her heart, but she had no choice.
Fortunately, her fingertip hadn’t healed yet, and blood quickly beaded again.
Click.
Just as expected, the pendant opened, revealing a tiny portrait inside.
The face of a very young infant, drawn in miniature.
The baby was too young to determine gender but had jet-black hair and violet eyes.
It looked exactly like a shrunken version of Ermedilin herself.
‘What’s this? A portrait of herself as a child? Why go so far as to seal and preserve something like this?’
Just as she tried to guess who the baby in the pendant might be, a maid announced the Duke’s arrival.
“His Grace the Duke has arrived.”
Chin held high, hands clasped behind his back, his arrogant entrance looked nothing like a visit to the Empress.
The moment Duke François appeared, the maids bent their waists at sharp right angles, staring at the floor while trembling.
Ermedilin observed the Duke and the maids’ behavior carefully.
“You’ve come?”
Though she’d lent the money first, her goal now was clearly to collect payment.
‘Heh. I’ve been hounded for debts before, but never the one doing the hounding.’
For now, she decided to greet the man who’d become her father with a gentle smile.
“Father. You’ve come?”
But the Duke clearly found his daughter’s greeting anything but welcome.
“Smile? You expect me to smile now?”
Male lead is reincarnated to save his wife
I’ve also read this one twice already. The female lead is kinda soft and gets embarrassed easily—not really my type, but the plot is definitely worth reading. Hurry up and read it, y’all!
Intro
When Shen Yuan encountered Su Jin again in his previous life, she had already become the Prime Minister of the current dynasty. As for him, the former top young master of the capital, he had long since fallen into the abyss, becoming a singer on a pleasure boat.
After a song ended, he was redeemed and sent to the Su Residence.
Su Jin respected and cherished him, gave him a roof over his head, and bestowed him with warmth. Shen Yuan fell deeper and deeper, but before he could express his feelings, Su Jin passed away.
Shen Yuan died to follow her in death, but instead, he returned to when he was fifteen years old.
At that time, he was not yet engaged, and Su Jin was just a poor scholar.
Shen Yuan gritted his teeth, casting aside all his pride, and thought of ways to coax and entice her every day.
The colder and more indifferent Su Jin was towards him, the more proactive Shen Yuan became.
He was not afraid of being mocked by the world, only wanting to marry his Wife-master early, to hold her hand and never let go for a lifetime.
[Note: This story will not specifically point out the male lead’s reincarnation time point; it’s all in the details. Whenever you feel that the male lead is acting strangely, he has most likely been reincarnated.]
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
another ass family to tolerate,dont tell me the king us the ML?
Wait what the hell. I lowkey hate henri but i feel bad for her to have to suffer with a loser like him omgn