Diana thought no one treated her as a person. She saw herself as a flower, withered and forgotten.
"Are you out of your mind, Empress?"
"Living in this kind of situation, it's a miracle that i'm not yet crazy!"
"Empress.."
It was interesting to see Lucas' pathetic look, the man who vowed commitment to Diana but now was blatantly having an affair with another woman.
Diana's life was nothing but a sacrifice. A beautiful, virtuous empress and the benevolent mother of the empire but it was her crown that would kill her well being.
I guess there was nothing I could do to change this story.
She was trapped in the book where everything seems to be settled already. With Lucas on the throne, she became the empress and naturally remained in that position for two years being locked in a stable and terrible prison of a twisted friendship between three people.
There were changes attempted, yet the story went just like the novel. The plot's flow was unalterable.
"I'm tired of it now, and I'd rather end it here. The more I turn the pages of the book, the more it becomes unbearable."
"What are you talking about?"
"Trisha was the main character from the start."
In their beautiful love story that began with friendship, Diana was only a supporting actress.
Still, Diana held on with one hope – she did not see the book until the end. She believed that if she waited a little longer, there might be proper development in the story.
But there was a limit. Especially when she now knew her character would still be murdered in the end. It was appalling that there was something more disastrous than the role of being an obstacle between them who enjoyed guiltless infidelity.
"Empress, you are being absurd."
"No. If I had been sane from the very beginning, the last two years wouldn't have been so painful."
It was such a stupid idea. If I had given up in the first place, I could have avoided two years of suffering.
"I'm gonna get out of here."
The blue eyes filled with remorse were resolute. Diana took out the silver dagger she had always carried with her.
"Put it down or I'll call the guards now!"
Lucas' words were unheard. Diana was still spitting out all her regrets to herself.
Now that I've been through it, I can't endure the pain and wait until the next chapter.
Diana remained at the Empress' post while losing her heart. Trisha and Lucas' happiness bloomed at her expense.
Soon the two of them, heated up by the obstruction, fell in love. Not long after, Trisha had a child with Lucas. And Trisha, of course, wanted a seat as an Empress.
"Anyway, Diana is destined to die on her own with this dagger."
Later, Trisha was exposed to the danger of poisoning, but unfortunately, the poison was found in the Empress' place. Lucas was terrified at the wickedness of Diana's attempt to poison Trisha with her child.
"That was a crazy development."
By that time, it was such an absurd part that she wanted to turn the pages forward. Then, she was greeted with a more horrid scene in which Diana, who had been confined to her own home, killed herself using the dagger she had received as a gift from her family.
"Empress, calm down… calm down."
"No, you don't know… you had me killed… all because of a woman's insinuation!"
In Lucas' eyes, Diana now is no more than a madwoman. But she couldn't care less about that; it wasn't her relationship with Lucas nor his behavior that mattered to Diana now.
What I regret the most …
Of course, she regretted even getting ahold of such a book. What a lifelong misfortune it was to be stuck in such a book and trapped without an escape. But there was something she regretted more than that.
I didn't read the story to the end.
The original Diana killed herself with a dagger, a heirloom that had been handed down to her family for generations. But when she opened her eyes again, she went back to her seventeen-year-old self who was yet to be crowned the empress.
The book was something called a genre with reincarnation. And she had been so fed up with the theme that she ended reading the book right then and there.
I should have read the book through.
Now she didn't know the end and it was too late. She couldn't stand to watch madness unfurl before her and at her expense anymore. She only lived a chapter as this Diana, but her mind was already in a state of exhaustion. Two years was already a long stretch, but if she died now, perhaps she would be able to finally escape.
"Diana?"
It had been a long time since Lucas called her name. It was a name that he did not use even when he visited her place every night and did his nighttime duties with her.
"I do not need you. Please let me go."
Diana quickly slit the skin of her throat without hesitation. Lucas's hand, which was trying to stop her, was a step late.
The intense pain, as described in the book, was only brief and her consciousness gradually blurred. All she hoped was that this death would be her ticket out.
If ever open my eyes again, I hope I am out of this f*cking book. I will not exhale another breath in this damned place.