This is a dream.

A terrible nightmare, and an obvious cliché.

And, it’s my favorite scene.

“Execute the tyrant Nikolai and the villainess Elizabeth!”

Claudia, the female lead of “The Silver Lady Knight”, shouts.

Just as described in the novel, she has silver hair with a hint of sky blue and piercingly clear blue eyes.

I’ve read this minor female protagonist fantasy several times because of Claudia.

She was exceptionally beautiful, and of course, strong – my ultimate favorite.

I admired her.

When reading Claudia’s adventures, I could briefly forget my miserable life.

What would it feel like to be possessed by Claudia?

Even being a side character would be fine if I could just be with her!

I made an impossible wish to be possessed into a book.

I didn’t know it would come true like this.

“I’m innocent! It was all Nikolai’s orders!”

A chilling metallic voice escapes my throat.

The heiress of a massive merchant guild and the villainess who led the empire to ruin. Elizabeth.

That’s me.

“Don’t you feel sorry for all the people who died because of you?”

Claudia stares at me with an expressionless face.

I respond, befitting a villainess.

“Who did I kill?! Bring me a corpse if you can!”

“As expected, you don’t regret anything at all.”

“Is this because of jealousy, Claudia? Because Douglas, whom you had a crush on, chose me? How is that my fault?”

A blue flame ignites in Claudia’s eyes.

But only briefly, soon regaining her composure.

“I’m simply carrying out the will of the empire’s people to punish a criminal.”

She’s fitting for the strongest lady knight – upright and stern.

If only I weren’t kneeling on the guillotine, I would have praised her endlessly.

“The crime of toying with countless men, including Marquis Nettleton. The crime of ruining the nation’s affairs together with the tyrant. The crime of squandering the national treasury and assassinating the empresses.”

Claudia recites Elizabeth’s evil deeds.

The crimes of Nikolai, the villainous emperor, are also listed.

“The crime of abducting women using the emperor’s power. The crime of treating them as playthings. The crime of neglecting the emperor’s duties. The crime of tarnishing the honor of the Hartmann Empire with licentious behavior…”

Even if Douglas wasn’t involved, Claudia would have executed the villainess and the tyrant to uphold justice.

Elizabeth and Nikolai committed too many crimes.

But I am innocent.

I don’t want to die like this.

Regardless of my will, the dream repeats.

“All preparations are complete!”

The knights tie the tyrant and me to a pair of guillotines.

The crowd goes wild.

Finally, Claudia gives a stern command.

“Execute them!”

In that moment, the tightly stretched rope is cut, and a well-sharpened blade plunges into my neck.

***

“Aaaargh!”

I woke up screaming.

With trembling hands, I checked my intact neck.

It still didn’t feel real.

Being alive, and being possessed by Elizabeth.

Kim Yena, a 22-year-old born and raised in South Korea, died during overseas volunteer work.

She gave up her oxygen mask to a young child, even though she herself was dying from a deadly epidemic.

In the swamp of death, a white light asked:

“A special privilege is given to those who die righteously. Will you go to heaven? Or to another world?”

I thought it was just a dream, of course.

“Please possess me. Everyone does it once, right? If possible, into a work I enjoyed reading.”

I replied with a smirk.

That was a month ago.

“Possessed as a villainess with a death ending. Huh. Isn’t this too obvious a cliché?”

I sighed deeply enough to sink the ground.

Even aside from the recurring nightmares, Elizabeth’s life was pure torture.

And I hadn’t even met the tyrant yet, nor killed anyone.

Based on my direct experience, Elizabeth was this kind of woman:

1. A party animal enjoying all-night parties 365 days a year.
2. A luxury addict who would wake up for the finest jewels and dresses.
3. An egoist riddled with an inferiority complex about her commoner origins.
4. An extreme handsome-man enthusiast.

Among these, number 4 was especially problematic.

How could the values of a Confucian girl from the land of etiquette change overnight?

“Not just two-timing, but three-timing, four-timing? Isn’t this too much? Even if she’s a rich heiress, she’s still just a commoner.”

Elizabeth was beautiful.

Not just ordinary beautiful, but breathtakingly beautiful.

The intense crimson hair, like it had been bleached and dyed four times, and thick curls that stayed bouncy without a curling iron were unfamiliar.

The mysterious black eyes that seemed to draw in the whole world were similar yet different from my previous life.

But Elizabeth’s reign as the queen bee of high society wasn’t solely due to her appearance.

Nor was it because of her wealthy parents doting on their only daughter.

Elizabeth had a special ability. One that perfectly suited the villainess of a novel.

“Marquis Nettleton has come to visit.”

The maid Nancy reported in a cowed voice.

She seemed afraid that an irritable outburst might follow.

“I’ll be down soon. Please tell him to wait a moment.”

I responded quite normally, but Nancy’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Young miss! Are you unwell again? Has the fever returned?”

“As I’ve said many times, I’m healthy.”

“But our young miss would never act like this! You must have gone strange in the head after nearly dying!”

Nancy fussed, feeling my forehead with her hand.

It didn’t feel particularly good, but I could sense her genuine concern.

Why would she care for a mistress who treated servants like used tissues?

‘Elizabeth became a scoundrel because of the original setting. Everyone around her coddled her, saying she’s pretty, pretty, there there.’

Villainess Elizabeth’s character was a ‘fatally charming femme fatale’.

Elizabeth had the power to fascinate people.

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

With some exceptions, usually a single wink was enough.

A kiss with some sticky saliva exchanged? Game over, completely.

The other person would become a faithful slave, sitting when Elizabeth said sit, rolling when she said roll.

I don’t know how she came to possess this strange ability.

It’s the setting, what can you do?

The problem was that I now had to handle that power going forward.

***

“Elizabeth. Is there no way you would reconsider the broken engagement?”

Douglas asked in a polite and careful tone.

His soft pink hair, like pink muhly grass, cast deep shadows on his handsome face.

Douglas Nettleton, the Marquis and Elizabeth’s former fiancé, was Claudia’s long-time crush.

‘If this were a romance novel, he’d easily qualify as the male lead.’

Sadly, “The Silver Lady Knight” was a female protagonist fantasy.

Douglas, the head of a fallen marquis family and an aspiring novelist, didn’t have much presence.

Claudia took revenge on Elizabeth for toying with Douglas, but towards the end, she chose the sword over love.

‘Douglas is just a supporting character who gets strung along by the villainess before belatedly realizing Claudia’s love. He’s not a bad guy. He truly loved Elizabeth, whom he got engaged to because of his father’s debt, even without Elizabeth using her fatal charm.’

Shortly before I was possessed, Elizabeth broke off the engagement with the devoted Douglas.

It was because she fell for a noblewoman’s ploy.

“Do you want to become the true queen of high society? Then try seducing His Majesty!”

What a childish provocation.

Unfortunately, Elizabeth was beyond childish – she was simple-minded.

“You think I can’t do it? If anything, being an empress is better than a marquise!”

Because Elizabeth openly boasted about it, Douglas’s honor was dragged through the mud.

There was even talk of expelling the Nettleton family, one of the top five noble houses, from the House of Lords.

‘It must have been a bolt from the blue for Claudia, who wished for her first love’s happiness. Her anger towards Elizabeth must have reached its peak after she continued to toy with Douglas even after the broken engagement.’

I unconsciously touched my neck.

Being executed every night made me desperately want to live.

I wanted to sleep soundly for just one night without the guillotine.

Would this terrible nightmare end if I twisted the original story?

How could I defeat that invincible lady knight?

For a month, I analyzed the original work like crazy.

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

As a result, I was able to come up with a few plans.

“Lord Douglas. You still can’t let go of me? Aren’t you tired of being ridiculed?”

I asked as irritably and unpleasantly as possible. Just like the villainess in the novel.

But Douglas’s gaze on me was as sweet as cream on a cake.

“I don’t care what others say.”

“We’re nothing to each other now. Completely!”

“If it weren’t for Elizabeth and the Emster Trading Company, the Nettleton family wouldn’t even have been able to maintain its lineage.”

“You seem to have forgotten all about my boyfriends while trying to keep up that precious facade. Nike, Jordan, Adi, Armor, Lance…”

I made up some names, as there was no way I actually had boyfriends in this world.

Douglas didn’t mind. He even blamed himself.

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

“You’re still as foolish and frustrating as ever. That’s why I left you.”

Though trying to stay calm, Douglas’s eyes wavered like a sailboat caught in a typhoon.

‘To avoid the guillotine, I need to get rid of Douglas first. Then I’ll build a bridge of love between Claudia and Douglas. Maybe Claudia will change if her unrequited love is fulfilled. From now on, my dream is to be a couple manager!’

I was lucky enough to be reborn as a super-rich beauty.

But I didn’t want to suffer nightmares every night and die like this.

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

“Even my only sister Susan can’t accept our broken engagement. You were fond of her too, weren’t you, Elizabeth?”

“Tell Susan this. Though my relationship with Lord Douglas is over, our friendship will never change.”

“Don’t you know that you’re the only one for me, Elizabeth?”

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

“Elizabeth…”

“How about the lady knight instead of me? She’d be able to protect you firmly, Lord Douglas, who’s never held anything heavier than a pen.”

Douglas’s expression darkened further.

Guilt pricked my heart like sharp needles.

It wasn’t easy to put up a wall against a man who was courting me.

Sadly, I was inexperienced, and Douglas was much more handsome than I had imagined.

‘Long life and health come before handsome men. Don’t be swayed by that wistful expression! Don’t look at those long, slender fingers either!’

Just as I managed to calm my wavering heart, Douglas pulled out a book from his leather bag.

“It’s embarrassing, but please accept this. It’s my heart.”

‘A book? He doesn’t debut as a novelist until much later, doesn’t he?’

Even after the broken engagement, Elizabeth used Douglas as an accessory to make herself look good.

Unlike in the original work, I didn’t meet with Douglas.

I didn’t know that would fan his creative spark.

Douglas wrote a mega-hit romance novel called “The Red Star of the Empire” much earlier than in the original work.

I wonder what kind of sign this is.

“The editor says the response from bookstores is very hot.”

“What’s it about?”

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

Douglas showed both shyness and pride.

Even after achieving his long-held dream, I was still the most important thing to him.

“If it displeases you, I’ll gather them all and burn them.”

All he wanted was a warm word and a fragment of a smile.

Suddenly, I envied Elizabeth.

‘When I died as Kim Yena, everything was regret. I only worked part-time jobs, burdened by tuition and living expenses. Romance? First kiss? What kind of puppy name is that? I even went on that overseas volunteer work because they said they’d cover the airfare and living expenses. Not because I was particularly righteous or anything.’

If I had known I would die young in a foreign country, I would have lived differently.

Now that I’ve become Elizabeth, I didn’t want to leave behind any more regrets.

There was no time to waste either.

I carelessly threw away Douglas’s first work, which he had poured his blood and sweat into writing, as well as the pure love he was offering to Elizabeth.

I added an annoyed and bewildered expression for good measure.

“Burn it or not, do as you please. And don’t bother me.”

***

I gulped down cold water.

My tongue still felt dry from spitting out those harsh words.

But there was no time to feel sorry for Douglas, as I had to hurry with the second plan.

“No matter what I do, as long as the villainous emperor keeps working hard, Claudia will start a revolution. To avoid the guillotine, I need to change Nikolai’s character. I’ll seduce the tyrant and turn him into a wise ruler!”

What if the Casanova emperor becomes a benevolent ruler who widely benefits his people, and the femme fatale villainess becomes as demure as a prime minister’s wife?

Claudia’s justification for revolution would disappear.

It was too difficult a task for a lifelong single homebody.

But it was possible for a fatally charming femme fatale.

I decided not to run away from the original story, but to seduce the tyrant just like in the original.

Of course, the result would be the opposite!

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

I firmly grasped the butterfly mask for the ball.

I couldn’t yet guess where fate would roll.

Nor did I know that fate, sometimes absurd, occasionally playful, and mostly unpredictable, would bring a man who would shake up my life.