I Possessed the Wicked Empress (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 5
“What is this?”
As she unfolded the bundle of papers, she found the names of cursed potions alongside a list of those who had ordered them.
“Huh?! What is this? This woman kept meticulous records, didn’t she?!”
From commoners to marquises, counts, and viscounts—the list included clients of every rank and status.
There was no greater treasure than this.
If this list were ever exposed, not only she herself—the one who brewed the potions—but also the clients would be in grave danger.
“So this is what they meant by ‘admissible as evidence’? I won’t use it right away, but it might come in handy someday.”
Reading in the unfamiliar darkness required intense concentration and was utterly exhausting, yet Ermedilin immediately picked up the next book.
“Isn’t there any useful magic in here?”
As she read on, she realized that every cursed potion required at least a single drop of the brewer’s blood.
Given that the House of François was described in the novel as a lineage of dark mages, it seemed bloodline played a crucial role in completing such magic.
“Ah, I shouldn’t have skipped the boring parts—should’ve read the setting more carefully.”
But what good would regret do her now?
For the moment, all she could do was study the clues right before her.
“The more I read, the more outrageous it gets, honestly.”
The thicker the book became, the more severe the curses described within grew.
Exhausted by the horrifying content, Ermedilin gave up on thorough reading and decided to check only the last two spells in the thickest, most ominous-looking book.
“The Curse of the Dead? It summons the soul of the deceased and forces it into the body of a living person harboring resentment. Ugh, seriously—what kind of nonsense is this?”
It was a curse that made the spirit of the dead possess someone the deceased deeply resented.
A note written beneath—apparently by Ermedilin herself—left a strong impression:
“The curse I shall complete by sacrificing my own soul. I will make sure ### possesses your body!!”
“Ugh… Thankfully, it doesn’t seem she’s ever carried it out. What kind of magic is this, anyway?”
The final curse was named “Disturbance of Rest.”
Since it was the last page, Ermedilin hoped it might contain something useful and read intently—but her eyes began to tremble violently.
“This… this is basically a zombie spell! What on earth… What was this woman even thinking?”
The book she hastily slammed shut contained research notes on a spell that reanimated only the corpse’s body, making it obey the caster’s will.
“There’s absolutely nothing helpful here! Seriously, what is this?! I don’t even want to earn money using these weird curses—I don’t even know how to cast them! I just need to get back the money I lent, no matter what.”
No matter how thoroughly she searched the basement, she found nothing that could immediately help her finances.
With no other choice, Ermedilin returned to her bedroom—and discovered something unfamiliar lying on her bed.
“What is this?”
She picked up the paper shimmering faintly in the moonlight and found a simple sentence written inside:
“Are you really going through with the lawsuit? So you don’t care if Ferdant dies, then?”
“Could Duke François have visited while I was in the basement?”
That name—Ferdant—appeared once again.
“It must be important, but who on earth is he? Could it be…?”
Hesitantly, she opened the pendant she’d seen earlier that day and pulled out a photo of a child who looked exactly like her—and sure enough, the name “Ferdant” was written there.
“So the child’s name is Ferdant? Judging by how much we look alike, we must be relatives. Oh no… Should I just ignore this?”
It felt too unsettling to simply let it go.
“How should I find out more?”
Just as Ermedilin was about to lie down on the bed, pondering the name Ferdant, a sudden chill ran through her entire body.
“Only the maids, the priestess, and Duke Baptistian know I’m planning to file a lawsuit. How could someone already know and leave a threat in my bedroom?”
This was the Empress’s Palace—a place most avoided, deeming it ill-omened.
Even the palace guards were kept to an absolute minimum, leaving the palace isolated and vulnerable.
Thus, there was only one plausible explanation:
There was a spy.
The priestess who’d agreed to testify didn’t seem like a spy; more likely, one of the three maids was. And judging by Duke François’s behavior, that maid was probably being blackmailed.
“In this situation, I’ll just have to be extra careful myself.”
The next day, Ermedilin dismissed all her maids and left the palace alone in the carriage prepared by Duke Baptistian.
Runi insisted on accompanying her, citing danger, but the guards—seemingly relieved they hadn’t been chosen—didn’t try to stop the Empress from going out alone.
“Right. Everyone would be thrilled if this dreadful Empress met with an accident during a solo outing.”
As she mulled over this bitter thought, the carriage left the city center and turned into a quiet alley.
Eventually, it arrived at a shabby little building.
Inside waited Pelio, son of Duke Baptistian, expecting Ermedilin.
This stern-looking young man—who bore a striking resemblance to his sharp-featured father—had deep navy hair and silver eyes.
His completely emotionless expression perfectly matched the nickname “Ice Prince,” which Ermedilin had never managed to sway in the novel.
“Please sit.”
Without even a formal greeting, Pelio jerked his chin toward a chair already prepared.
“He clearly has no desire to get involved with me.”
Being openly disliked by someone you’ve just met isn’t exactly pleasant.
But since she’d unfortunately reincarnated as the worst possible villain, she’d have to get used to it.
“For now, he’s my lawyer—I should try to make a good impression.”
Though Ermedilin was the one in need, she calmly took her seat and offered a gentle smile.
“Thank you for taking on my defense.”
She spoke as politely as possible, yet Pelio’s cold silver eyes looked back at her with contempt—as if she were something filthy.
“No need to thank me. I only wish to bring down Duke François, your Majesty’s father.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Once the Duke is dealt with, it’ll be far easier to topple an Empress stripped of her backing.”
Pelio’s blunt honesty—showing no effort to conceal his true intentions—made Ermedilin swallow nervously.
Truthfully, it was deeply uncomfortable for her to ally with someone so filled with hatred toward her that he’d eventually secure her execution.
Back when she lived as Hye-young, she’d grown accustomed to being ignored and overlooked—but she’d never done anything to earn such intense resentment.
If anything, she’d been the one holding grudges.
“Sigh… How did I end up treated like this? I always lived by the principle of never burdening others, no matter how hard things got. But I guess this is my karma for reincarnating into this body. Still, he’s my lawyer—I should try to talk nicely.”
“I know you hold no favorable feelings toward me. In fact, the entire Empire feels the same. To you, I must seem like an immoral witch—but even someone like me finds it painful to be treated this way by family.”
“…”
“Even if you bring me down someday, for now, I must escape my father’s abuse.”
She’d meant to speak impassively, but without realizing it, her voice trembled slightly on the last sentence.
“If I had to reincarnate, couldn’t they have sent me to a harmonious family? I spent my whole life as a lonely orphan—couldn’t I at least find happiness in this novel?”
Tears threatened to spill from the injustice of it all.
“What? Why am I crying? Don’t cry in front of someone you just met!”
Ermedilin turned her head quickly to hide her tears—but in that instant, Pelio’s gaze softened.
“They say he’s exceptionally chivalrous… Could he feel pity for Ermedilin, who suffered abuse from her father?”
“Massive debts, abducting maids at will, even murder—none of that is particularly unusual. But assault? Assaulting royalty? Is this true?”
Pelio’s tone was as sharp as a honed blade.
“Yes. Priestess Louise will testify.”
Pelio scanned the records Ermedilin had written detailing Duke François’s atrocities, his face utterly expressionless.
They said that upon reincarnation, memories embedded in the body would resurface—but so far, she remembered nothing.
Fortunately, the original Ermedilin had meticulously documented not only the money lent to her father but also every instance of abuse she’d endured.
The accounts were so horrifying they made her nauseous—she’d wondered why anyone would write such things down. But the inclusion of dates and witness names proved the original owner of this body had clearly intended to bring her father down someday.
Of course, in the original novel, she’d failed—forced to bear all the blame and vanish alone in the execution grounds as nothing but smoke.
Pelio’s face remained icy as he read through the complaint, yet his hand trembled slightly.
Indeed, the contents were too severe to read with a clear mind.
Even the wound inflicted by a knife to the neck was among the milder incidents.
There were times he’d slammed her head against the wall by her hair until she passed out, or shattered her leg with a sword sheath.
Once, he’d even poured scalding-hot tea directly onto her face.
“No wonder my hand shook while writing this—if I felt that, how must it feel to read it?”
The orphanage where Hye-young had lived wasn’t overflowing with love, but at least it provided lawful, legitimate protection within the bounds of the law.
The worst violence there was just kids roughhousing with peers.
Yet even so, she’d always envied classmates whose parents accompanied them on field days or excursions.
She’d often wondered what it would feel like to have a mother and father of her own.
Thus, as she copied the detailed accounts of her father’s abuse from her diary into the legal complaint, she felt both Ermedilin’s burning rage and Hye-young’s profound sorrow.
Anyone could see they were family—their jet-black hair, violet eyes, and identical features unmistakably marked them as mother and child. And yet… this was what family looked like? It felt as if an ideal she’d long yearned for had crumbled to dust before her eyes.
After finishing the testimony, Pelio carefully placed the paper on the table, taking care not to wrinkle it.
“If everything written here is true, this is a grave matter indeed. After all, you are still the Empress, are you not? How dare he commit such an unforgivable act against royalty—and worse, a trained knight assaulting a woman? Your Majesty’s father is even more despicable than I imagined.”
“Perhaps because he’s still unmarried, Prince Pelio clearly feels anger differently from his father, Duke Baptistian.”
Both father and son viewed the assault on royalty as a serious crime—but while the Duke was outraged at a parent abusing his child, the Prince was personally incensed at a man assaulting a woman.
“And that ‘still’ he mentioned…”
As Pelio uttered “still,” he deliberately locked eyes with Ermedilin.
It was clearly a warning: once this case is resolved, you won’t remain Empress for long.
“Fine. I don’t want to be Empress either. I just don’t want to die! All I need is to recover my money, be deposed, and leave this palace!”
Until then, she was prepared to endure any humiliation.
She’d reincarnated only to be falsely accused of crimes she never committed—she refused to die as the story’s worst villain.
“Will you take my case?”
“Of course. It’s a guaranteed win—any lawyer who passed this up would be incompetent.”
“Then… can I recover the money I lent?”
Truthfully, for Ermedilin, retrieving the money was more urgent than punishing her abusive father.
What would happen if she were cast out of the palace as a beggar?
Already despised by the entire nation, if rumors spread that the Empress had been disowned by her family and thrown out penniless, that would be the end of her.
Unaware of her predicament, Pelio’s silver eyes turned so cold they seemed to freeze the very air around him.
It felt as if frost would form with every blink.
“Money… Ah, yes. Your Majesty does… quite adore money, doesn’t she?”
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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Wait what the hell. I lowkey hate henri but i feel bad for her to have to suffer with a loser like him omgn