In her past life, Rika had been an ordinary university student. She wasn't famous or remarkable—just another face in the crowd. A history major with a passion for video games, Rika spent her days studying and her nights escaping into fantasy worlds. Her favorite game was Ashen Empress, a strategy-heavy visual novel where players navigated the life of Elias Drayven, a cunning villainess who rose to power in a war-torn empire.

Rika had played the game countless times, always fascinated by the complex politics, the betrayals, and the intricate relationships between characters. But she never imagined that one day, she would find herself living the life of the very character she'd come to know so well.

It all happened so suddenly. One moment, she was studying for her finals, and the next, she woke up in the body of Elias Drayven. The memories of Elias's life and choices flooded her mind, a foreign identity threatening to overwhelm her own.

At first, Rika struggled with the transition. She had no desire to play the role of a villainess—someone feared and hated by the empire. Yet, the power, the control, and the weight of responsibility were now hers to bear. Elias's life was complicated, filled with enemies, betrayals, and political maneuvering. But Rika's heart, still tied to her past life, couldn't help but fight against the cruelty and manipulation that came with it.

The more she experienced, the more she realized that she wasn't just inhabiting Elias's body—she had taken over her life. Rika's memories of being an ordinary student, living in a peaceful world, became distant, as though they belonged to someone else. In this new world, her actions would decide her fate, and she knew she had to break free from the path of destruction that Elias was meant to walk.

Rika had no choice but to change the course of this world. She would rewrite her fate, not as a villainess, but as a woman who could create her own destiny. The road ahead was uncertain, but for the first time since her reincarnation, she began to believe in the possibility of a future she could control.

The struggle to balance Elias's identity and her own was just beginning, and Rika knew that no matter what, she couldn't let her past life define her new one.