The sound of rain tapping against the window and pages turning filled the quiet room.

After turning the final page while sitting on the bed, I extended both hands over the closed book as the priest rose from the stool and said, “Let’s go now.”

“……”

Looking up at the priest, I stretched out my hands with the closed book.

The priest began tying rope around my impudent gesture, his expression hardening.

After reading the ending of the unfinished book, my head felt much lighter.

“It’s raining.”

“……”

“Perfect.”

Satisfied that the ending had come and nothing more could be done, my eyes closed gently with a smile.

“I really hate sad endings. Do you know how that book just ended?”

“……”

“A foolish woman throws away everything she has for mere love. Can you understand that, priest?”

The priest in his pulled-down robe gave no response.

It felt like talking to a wall. I didn’t mind.

“I understand. For me, love alone was enough.”

Everyone treated my words as nonsense or the ramblings of a madwoman.

Even if someone treated them as less significant than dust floating in the air, I didn’t care as long as that one person saw me.

“If God questions my sins, I think He should question that thing called love.”

“……”

“You must be happy. You love someone who will never betray you.”

The corridor I walked down following the priest was long, dark, and damp. The priest pulled the rope binding my hands and moved forward, his black-robed back blocking my path like a black wall.

My smile-stretched lips began to ache. The moisture flowing over them wasn’t rain, as it wasn’t cold.

I looked around blankly at the colorless surroundings. This place, devoid of warmth, was where I had been imprisoned for years after being abandoned by the one I loved.

/”This ridiculous charade ends now. No matter what you do, I have no intention of having an heir with you.”/

I knew our marriage was one of obligation.

But I wished for this marriage to be one of love, not duty.

That was the problem.

“Just once. He came looking for me once. I was so happy. It was my first time going to his space… Do you know what I saw there?”

I lifted my head toward the world that had turned as black as my insides and smiled broadly.

“A woman.”

A n*ked woman, at that.

The priest momentarily halted his steps in warning as I burst into laughter.

“Not a single day passed that I didn’t wait for him here. Call me a fool if you want. I truly am one.”

Taking the position of Empress meant excluding personal emotions.

That flimsy emotions like love should never be harbored.

I learned this through education but found it difficult to implement in practice.

Although it was a meeting to discuss state affairs, because he summoned me, I had new clothes made, squeezed my body into bone-piercing tools, stood before the mirror applying powder, brushing my hair, practicing smiles, and choosing greetings.

When I confirmed the existence of the beautiful woman who had spent the previous night with him right before my eyes, I realized he had summoned me to discourage my useless feelings toward him.

He made me the most miserable woman in the world that way, consistently indifferent toward me.

“…He said he loved her. That woman.”

Ah, my throat cracked and a strange scream crawled up.

Having grown accustomed to living in his shadow, always seeing only his feet, the daily life of a mistress who could face him and whisper love seemed unreal.

I envied that woman.

I desperately wanted to be the name on his lips.

That misplaced desire created today’s disgrace and made me utterly pathetic.

People say:

The Empress, unable to receive the Emperor’s love and blinded by jealousy, dabbled in the heretical dark arts.

This path I walk is one to face judgment while embracing all those disgraces.

“Priest, may I confess my small wish to you who is here today?”

The priest slowly turned around, and I stared blankly at his chest before resolutely opening my mouth.

“…If God takes pity on me and gives me a chance, I will make just one wish.”

Hugging the book inside the bound ropes, I let my tears fall like rain.

“To grant me the strength to love nothing.”

If only I could have borrowed such sinister power to receive his love, I wouldn’t have made today’s decision.

As I muttered while staring blankly at the black wall, the bell on the distant spire rang loudly.

Time was up.

“…Will you hold me?”

When I asked for a moment of warmth from the unknown priest, he slowly raised his arms and silently embraced my miserable shoulders.

For a while, I recalled my futile and wretched love through his warmth before breaking away and continuing on the delayed path.

“Thank you.”

“…Your Majesty!!”

I threw myself off the bridge into the pouring rain without hesitation.

The river, swollen with rainwater, flowed fiercely, and my body was helplessly caught in the current, breaking and snapping.

It was a death that suited my life, being mindlessly swept away by the current.

※※※

“Die here.” “Why… Jane…”

“…Director Ahn, it’s been too long since I last saw you. Seems like you wanted to have fun with me after such a long time.”

I looked at Director Ahn after throwing the manuscript—much thinner than what I had submitted—onto the desk.

“…You know. Censorship. I really don’t understand it either, but they said if we just cut out those ‘slightly’ brutal scenes in the middle, it would be really good, so…”

“Brutal? Censorship? Since you seem to be making a good living off it, you come begging for manuscripts, but now you’re saying this? Why did you ask me to write if you’re going to cut out everything front and back?”

“No, the book is published under your name, so of course you should write it, who else would?”

The whining sound was really unpleasant to hear.

Thump. When I stabbed the manuscript with my pen, Director Ahn jumped up in surprise and began to plead desperately.

“…Jane.”

“My novel is ruined because of some guy, and the female protagonist dies like a bug.”

“But, but killing the Emperor is a bit…”

“Why can’t I kill him?”

I glared at Director Ahn with cold eyes.

“He’s human too, so why can’t I kill him?”

“…Y-yes, you can kill him.”

Director Ahn stuttered in confusion, then wiped his face repeatedly before resolutely bringing over a stack of papers he had left near the shredder.

“But —ing and —ing to make — is a bit… Okay, let’s set that aside. This ending with — and this part here. This section is…”

I watched Director Ahn’s excited expression as he began reciting the finale on the paper and thought:

If anyone happened to pass by and overheard our conversation, they wouldn’t escape their nightmares tonight.

“Ha. Fine! I changed a lot! But what do you want me to do? I was scared it would haunt my dreams. Even though you have quite a fan base, this is too much. If we publish this as is, you’ll crash and burn, become controversial, a problematic work!!! Just… just this once, can’t you turn a blind eye…? Jane…? Are you listening to me?”

He seemed to be talking passionately about something.

Playing with the nib of my uncapped pen, I only kept repeating the word “nightmare.”

“That’s good. A work that gives you nightmares when you read it. Sounds cool.”

“…I’m going to lose my mind. When was the last time you went to the hospital?”

Snap—

At the word “hospital,” the pen nib in my hand broke with a snap. The German fountain pen nib that had held up well when I stabbed the manuscript earlier had now crossed a river of no return.

Director Ahn would soon follow the same fate.

“Hospital?”

“…Oh my, I made a mistake. That…”

“Ah. That place? I don’t go anymore. I’m going to die today anyway.”

“J-Jane, Yoon Jane!!”

I stood up and stormed out of the office.

“Hey!! Fine!! You think you’re some great writer!! Your manuscript isn’t worth money!! It’s not worth it!! If you don’t stop doing this, you’re done!! What?? You’re not coming back? I said are you not coming back!! I’m going to charge you for editing costs!!”

I’d lived thinking I could quit this worthless life anytime, and I’d continued this work with just that level of passion. I had planned to quit without regrets someday, and it seemed today was that day.

It had been tiring and dirty all this time.

I left the publishing office and headed home.

The infuriatingly bright weather only made me angrier.

Horror novelist Yoon Jane. A writer who appeared like a comet online, spewing nightmarish, creepy writings that ruined many people’s moods.

That had been my alias for the past few years.

That’s over now too.

I thought I wouldn’t last long, but I didn’t expect it to end today.

My retirement came more intensely than expected.

After returning home, I guzzled down wine I’d been saving because I couldn’t afford to drink during deadlines, then fell asleep.

A fire broke out.

I don’t know where the fire started, but it was large enough to engulf me in acrid smoke in an instant.

Insomnia and anxiety medications were scattered messily on the nightstand.

‘Again……’

Was it an episode of that illness?

As my consciousness faded from inhaling smoke, I tried to trace back the cause of the fire.

So this illness is finally killing me.

And thus, the small house in the suburbs was engulfed in flames that turned night into day, reduced to ashes.

At last, this wretched life came to an end.

I’d grown so used to hearing words like “creepy” and “crazy” that even death evoked no particular emotion.

So it seemed fine to pass into eternal rest this way.

…Was even that too much to ask for?

“Your Majesty… the Empress?”

Consciousness returned once more.

The first thing I saw was a bizarre ceiling with broken stone arches.

On the floor lay a discarded portrait that hadn’t been hung on the wall—a pale blonde woman with unfocused blue-gray eyes, painted magnificently with a solemn expression.

I stared blankly at the name written beneath it.

‘Diana Yentz Veronique.’

“Her Majesty… Her Majesty has awakened!”

“Diana Veronique……”

The mad Empress from the novel that tormented me until my dying moment.

I survived stubbornly, returning to life.

Into the ruined manuscript, of all places.

/”Crazy b*tch.”/

I had always played the villain wherever I went.

My mother, whose body grew too heavy to soar, danced away to the eternal stage of endless lighting and acclaim,

And my father spent his life trying to turn me into an exact clone of my mother in the frame.

The ill-fated swan who lost her dream the moment I was born.

I always insisted on the top position in her place.

My father invested a lot in me, and I had to be responsible for that investment by grinding myself down day and night.

Precise fingertips, accurate foot bending, the end of a gaze, the angle of lips—everything had to be perfect. Yet what I couldn’t possess, I had to acquire by any means necessary.

/”Monster.”/

Everyone called me a monster for trying to obtain everything without regard for methods.

“Her Majesty… Her Majesty has awakened!”

The attendant who left the room in a fuss after seeing me awake apparently intended to gather everyone here.

Through the window, I could see lights gradually turning on in the building across from me.

Before the commotion grew louder, I slowly retraced the situation.

Judging by how I woke up in this gloomy castle, I seemed to be at the point where I already carried the infamy of being the mad Empress. Based on the reactions around me, I must have been bedridden for quite some time, so this appeared to be the revised manuscript.

“F*ck, of all things……”

Suddenly, anger welled up inside me.

I said I would write a revenge story.

What I got was a manuscript revised after numerous censors, turning into a regret story driven by the Emperor’s sentimentality and pathetic excuses.

‘Anyway.’

Why am I wearing this pathetic shell?

After all this, the genre changed from revenge or regret to transmigration.

I don’t even know where this manuscript is heading anymore.

After all, I no longer had any obligation to fix this ruined novel.

With a crumpled expression from the displeasure of not meeting my death, I watched people busily moving around the room before getting out of bed and slowly looking around.

Indeed, what ending should I give this novel to make Director Ahn suffer?

Well, I don’t know if what happens here will affect the outside world.

As I slowly surveyed my surroundings, my gaze fell on the swords at the waists of knights rushing in urgently.

“Your Majesty!”

The knights’ quick movements caught me off guard, seizing my hand that had gripped a sword. Everyone in the room crowded around to stop me.

“Let go.”

“I apologize, Your Majesty. I cannot do that.”

The knight blocking me applied increasingly stronger pressure.

Clang—

When the blade fell to the ground with a sharp sound, sighs of relief finally began to emerge from around the room.

Having quickly exhausted my strength in the struggle with the robust knight, I caught my breath roughly and looked down at the fallen blade.

Meeting those cold, sunken blue-gray eyes beneath pale blonde hair filled me with disgust.

The wretched life of the woman living in this crumbling place was explanation enough.

Though I had transmigrated, I felt more drawn to cutting off the useless head than fixing the Emperor’s mindset.

“Should I just kill them all?”

/”…Monster.”/

Just as I considered thoroughly ruining everything, I also thought it might be tiresome to get involved in troublesome matters, and it wouldn’t be bad to withdraw before the Emperor threw a fit.

I would benefit from leaving this miserable life behind for rest, and he would benefit from continuing his rotten love affair.

“Your Majesty!!”

“Kyaah!!”

While everyone in the room was catching their breath as tensions eased, I quickly picked up the sword that had fallen to the floor.

Without hesitation, the cold blade aimed at my abdomen reflected light that illuminated the surroundings like a spotlight.

As my eyelids closed comfortably like curtains being drawn, someone’s sharp scream reached my ears.

If this was a dream, I would wake up, and if it was death, I would go where I was supposed to go.

※※※

Just as I was being pulled into a terrible drowsiness, like sinking into deep waters—

“Where are you going? After making me like this.”

I met her.

Diana Veronique, my protagonist and now the mistress of a tragic life that belonged to no one.

In a place draped with darkness like a curtain, I heard a chilling voice accompanied by the faint sound of waves.

When I opened my closed eyes, the surroundings gradually became clearer, and I saw a white woman approaching me across the sandy beach where waves crashed in the night.

The ghostly, hazy white woman walked along the beach where waves broke, gradually coming closer to me, and I merely watched her approach with a crooked gaze.

“What are you?”

Was this the thing that dragged me into this nonsensical place?

When Diana Veronique approached and showed me her pitiful expression, laughter burst out of me ridiculously.

At my mockery, Diana responded with a bitter expression, matching her empty blue-gray eyes with mine.

“Don’t run away. You must fix everything you’ve ruined.”

Ruined?

What a joke. The effort I put in to make you perfect.

I poured nights into making you the best.

Because of me, you reigned at the pinnacle, living a brilliant and splendid life without a single flaw.

And you say I ruined it?

Diana’s eyes, warning me with a spine-chilling emptiness, demanded that I fix her dismally faded life.

“Why should I?”

I questioned the specter making such demands. The specter merely shook her head and gave a shabby smile.

That attitude angered me, making this life even more displeasing. I wanted to drive it further into ruin, this already miserably failed life.

“Why are you like this? This might actually be a good opportunity for you.”

“Opportunity?”

How could this ruined life be an opportunity for me? As I looked at her with a tilted gaze, Diana opened her mouth with a bitter expression.

“It’s a position where you can have everything if you just give up one love, isn’t it?”

“……”

“If you fulfill my wish, I will devote my soul to fulfilling yours.”

“Your wish?”

“Yes. My long-standing wish and the one thing I could never have—love.”

I stared intently at Diana Veronique, who couldn’t let go of her attachments even after becoming a ghost.

“…Make him love me, make everyone here love and desire me. I want a life filled with love, being loved again and again.”

I only created nightmarish memories, broken, twisted, and wretched stories.

Even in the recreated story, she still talks like this despite not escaping death.

Born a monster, I could never be the protagonist anywhere. Only a terrible villain at best.

“I’m not in the mood. After giving me so much trouble, this is how you repay me?”

I grabbed the pale shoulders of my protagonist who was making unreasonable complaints and raged.

She said her life was ruined because of me.

So I must fix it.

“There isn’t much time. The deadline is one year from my death. Until the first rain of early spring… It would be better for you to accept my proposal.”

Diana Veronique, who proposed this impossible game to me as if I had no choice but to accept, left me in a long nightmare and disappeared.

※※※

When I opened my eyes, a blurry fresco of angels and priests on the ceiling came into view.

“Ugh……”

As consciousness returned, pain shot through my abdomen. I looked around with deeply furrowed eyes. This damp and desolate place was still the novel that Diana Veronique had pulled me into.

Gradually, as my focus sharpened, I noticed something disturbing.

A large fresco filling one wall.

A white figure began to flicker before my eyes, strangely harmonizing with that fresco.

“You’re awake.”

“……”

“…I apologize. I didn’t want to disturb Your Majesty’s sleep…”

Did he jump out of the painting?

I squinted my still-blurry eyes to look at him.

“…I heard the news and came to check on Your Empress’s health.”

‘A priest.’

Meanwhile, my vision gradually returned.

If he was a priest, he would be one of the watchers who came to judge the Empire’s Empress who had supposedly gone mad.

“…It was dangerous. You’ve passed the crisis, but we’ll need to keep watching the scar.”

The priest diligently fulfilled his mission, taking out clean linen and bandages and setting down the medicine bottle he had brought.

“…How many days has it been?”

I asked the priest in a cracked voice.

The priest raised his head, his bright green irises sparkling even under his deeply pulled robe as he answered.

“You’ve been lying down for exactly three days.”

“Not me. You. I’m asking how long it’s been since the temple sent a priest.”

“…It’s been half a year today, Your Majesty.”

Wrinkles formed between the priest’s eyebrows as my lips curled upward.

Half a year since the priests came to exorcise the demon wearing the Empress’s shell.

Diana takes her own life.

So this body has already experienced death once.

Perhaps the me inside it today is the very demon they feared and tried to drive out.