Until The Real One Shows Up: Chapter 1

A common misunderstanding among female protagonists who are possessed inside a novel as that they’re always of thinking that ‘I can change the content of this novel.’’

At one time, that was what she thought as well.

“You must avoid them immediately, Your Highness!”

She didn’t even know how huge a mistake that was.

“The rebels are coming in. Come on!”

“His Majesty the Emperor? Where is he now?”

“The Emperor… Has been killed.”

“…That’s ridiculous.”

Empress Anastasia shook her head with an astonished look.

“That can’t be. That’s impossible…”

“Your Highness, there’s no time to lose!”

“There’s the Empress! Get her!”

Anastasia accepted the situation and without a moment to escape, the rebels stormed inside the Empress’s Palace.

The rebels had already taken control of the palace, so it was not that difficult to capture the Empress inside.

Anastasia was caught helplessly and was sent straight into the dungeon.

There was a familiar face waiting for her.

“The Empress…”

It was Avelin. The original female protagonist of this novel.

Seeing Anastasia enter the dungeon, her face was distorted with dismay. Then she asked immediately.

“His Majesty the Emperor?!”

“…He’s dead.”

As she said those simple words into her mouth, it felt like her heart was being ripped into pieces.

Anastasia swallowed dry saliva and then added.

“They said that he died while fighting the rebels.”

“Nonsense! Do not lie to me!”

“It’s the truth, Avelin.”

“How, how did that happen…”

“…”

“Now we are all going to die. You’ll be decapitated at the guillotine. Will those who launch a new dynasty keep the people who worship the ruins alive?”

Avelin cried out in agony, and Anastasia was speechless in her misery.

But because of her agony she now realized the fact that she would die soon.

That her husband, the man she loves, is dead. It was because of that one reason.

‘…Wilhelm.’

She bit her lip so hard that it bled, and Anastasia tightly closed her eyes.

Even in the dark, only his figure was drawn clearly.

“I’ll get back to you safely, so don’t worry too much about me even at the moment that you’re no longer with me.”

“I’m sorry.”

She couldn’t shake the fact that all those tragedies were caused by her.

Anastasia also apologized to Avelin.

“…I’m sorry, young girl. It’s all because of me.”

At those words, Avelin stopped crying and looked at Anastasia.

“…I’m sorry, Avelin. It was all because of me.”

“…”

“I should have let it all go, as it should have been.”

“Are you only regretting that now?”

Avelin asked Anastasia in a very astonished voice.

“It’s all too late. There is no point in regretting it now.”

She knew it too.

It was already too late. Now this apology was nothing more than just a cowardly excuse for her past stupidity.

Even more now, she felt like her heart was being ripped into a thousand pieces.

“His Majesty the Emperor died because of your stupidity, and the venerable dynasty was destroyed. Sooner or later we will all be beheaded at the guillotine.”

“…Yes, it’s all my fault.”

“I resent you! Curse you! If only you had made a wise decision, if only I had…!”

“…”

“How are you going to pay for all these sins? What are you going to do with this situation?!”

“…I’m sorry.”

‘I couldn’t say anything other than that. Everything seemed to be my fault, all of it.’

“I’m sorry…”

Eventually, Anastasia began to cry. Only after seeing her crying did Avelin stop criticizing her.

However, her eyes were still fixed on Anastasia. Only the sound of suffocating weeping filled the gloomy prison.

‘I thought that I could change it.’

A common misunderstanding among female protagonists that is possessed by novels.

‘I thought I could change the content of this novel.’

At one time she thought so too. That the power of love can make everything possible.

The future was not set, so it was enough to just avoid any tragedy.

With such optimistic thoughts, Anastasia dared to covet the main character with the body of an extra.

She wanted him, and thankfully he also accepted her love for him, so there was no hesitation at that moment.

Even if she died tomorrow, she didn’t want to give up on that love. That’s why she faced this tragedy with such childish thoughts.

In the end, the man that she loved more than her life died, and then she herself will follow the tragedy of his death.

‘It was all a mistake…’

Her wrong judgment drove everything to ruin.

As Avelin said, she was definitely obtuse, and now it was too late for her to regret.

The terrible reality of this irreparability situation caused Anastasia to suffer endlessly.

Anastasia couldn’t even dare to cry out loud because of her guilt. That was why she kept her voice as low as possible and wept bitterly for a long time.

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

“Tomorrow, there will be an execution ceremony for the remnants of the desolation.”

Anastasia heard those words after spending a few days in the unpleasantly gloomy dungeon.

She lifted her face, which showed she had barely eaten.

“Of course your neck will fall as well. So be prepared, because I’m not going to let you go unscathed.”

“…”

“The wicked bitch who brought the whole Empire into grief.”

A man with a scornful look spat on Anastasia.

Anastasia did not even dare to avoid the spit, and she was followed by a beating.

The man who was glaring at Anastasia with eyes that looked like he was seeing something dirty, finally left the dungeon.

“The wicked bitch who brought the whole Empire into grief…”

After she was left alone, Anastasia slowly recited the man’s last words.

‘I realized that, maybe it really is true.’

It was all because of her that the situation had reached such a catastrophe.

Because of her wickedness. Because of her greed.

Then, the death that she would face tomorrow was not an unfair thing for her.

“You deserve to die, Anastasia…”

After blaming herself continuously, she carefully pulled something out of her bosom with her bare hands.

It was a small black bottle.

Anastasia stared at it for a while. Wilhelm always had it in his arms after he went out to the battlefield.

‘If something like this happens someday, I’d rather just die than look dirty.’ That’s what she thought.

She also didn’t want to see the rebels defeat her and have her succumb to them and collapse helplessly.

‘If I die with such an appearance, I will have no face to see Wilhelm even after death.’

This was not about protecting her dignity.

As the wife of Emperor Wilhelm, it was so that her nobility would not be as tainted as it already has.

“…”

Anastasia opened the bottle cap with trembling hands.

It was a colorless and odorless poison. It was so poisonous that if anyone drank it, they would lose their breath within a few minutes.

‘A little later, I will be by your side again.’

Thinking about it that way, she felt a little comforted.

“Wilhelm.”

For the very last time, Anastasia called out the name of the person she devoted her life to.

“Even when I die, please don’t forgive me.”

As she closed her eyes, tears fell down from her rich long eyelashes.

Anastasia tilted the glass bottle onto her lips without hesitation.

The thick liquid slowly absorbed into her body through her throat.

Soon after, as the poison spread out, Anastasia’s body fell into the floor helplessly.

“Ugh…”

She could feel her breath running out.

“If I could go back to the beginning…”

Anastasia murmured sadly in tears.

“I would never, ever love you again.”

‘Loving you in this life was already enough of a punishment you received.’

‘In the next life, I will never love you and will completely conform to my destiny.’

Whispering the last words of regrets, Anastasia’s last breath dissipated.

-Tak!

At the same time, a sharp rupture was heard.

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

She was possessed by a very common story.

As Anastasia, the protagonist of the oracles that will save the Empire from tragedy and disaster.

Anastasia received the oracle and became the Empress immediately after her coming-of-age ceremony, and was very proud of the fact that she was the woman from the oracle.

She knew very well that no matter what she did, she would not be punished, nor would she be deposed from the position of the Empress.

It was because of the oracle that the Empire could be peaceful only if she kept the position of the Empress.

Believing that, Anastasia committed all kinds of depravity and luxury. It was also a bonus to cause all sorts of filthy scandals.

The Emperor occasionally warned Anastasia, but she only listened roughly and let it go.

The pride of being chosen by the goddess was enough to make even the Emperor looked down upon.

Then one day.

“The blessing was wrong. The current Empress is not a woman of the oracle.”

‘The blessing was wrong.’

At those words, the Emperor deposed Anastasia as if he had waited for it all along, and made the real woman in the oracle the next Empress.

That was Avelin, the female protagonist in the original story.

At first, the Emperor was wary that Avelin is an arrogant woman like Anastasia, but soon fell in love with her loveliness and kindness.

And the story was of how the Emperor and Avelin went through various hardships and ruled the whole Empire well.

When she first got possessed by the novel, the goal that she set was not to be rude like the original Anastasia.

Not being proud of the fact that she was the woman of the oracle, but quietly maintaining her position as the Empress of the Empire, and giving up her seat once the original heroine comes and leaves everything as it is.

In the original story, she was dismissed after being dethroned, but it was because the level of evilness that Anastasia had committed before was so serious that it was surprising that she had not been executed.

Since it was a minor problem that could change at any time, the intention was to prevent any possible problems in the future.

However, there was a minor problem.

No, it was actually a very big problem.

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