The servants remained on the floor, their heads bowed so low their foreheads nearly touched the cracked marble. Their trembling figures seemed almost unreal to Lin Wei, who sat frozen on the remains of the massive bed, struggling to make sense of the bizarre scene.
One of the maids, a middle-aged woman with graying hair peeking out from beneath her white bonnet, dared to speak. "Y-Your Majesty," she stammered, her voice quaking. "What do you require of us today?" She kept her gaze fixed firmly on the floor, her hands clasped together as though in prayer.
Lin barely moved, unsure of how to respond. The smallest shift of her body made the woman flinch violently. Before Lin could even form a coherent thought, the maid broke into sobs.
"Please, Your Majesty!" she cried, her voice raw with desperation. "I have children! A husband! I beg you not to take my life. I—I'll do anything you ask!"
Her words hit Lin like a punch to the gut. She hadn't said or done anything beyond existing in this strange room, and yet these women seemed utterly convinced that she was a monster.
"I..." Lin began, her voice dry and scratchy, but before she could say more, a sudden, searing pain tore through her skull.
It was unlike anything she had ever felt before an unbearable pressure, as though someone were forcing her head into a vise. Lin clutched her temples, groaning as the pain intensified. Images began flashing before her eyes, vivid and overwhelming, like a film reel on fast-forward.
Her breathing hitched as she saw soldiers in black-and-gold armor marching through a burning city, their swords dripping with blood. She felt the weight of a crown on her head as she sat on a throne of cold, jagged obsidian. She saw herself or rather, a version of herself delivering orders to execute dozens of people, her voice calm and devoid of empathy.
The memories were relentless, pouring into her mind with violent force. Faces, places, and events she didn't recognize yet somehow felt intimately familiar.
Her hands trembled as she clung to the remnants of her sanity. "What the hell is this?" she gasped, her voice barely a whisper.
The maids remained silent, but she could see them out of the corner of her eye, trembling in fear as she writhed in agony.
Another wave of memories surged forward, this time sharper, more detailed. She saw herself no, Valeria standing over a group of prisoners. Their faces were etched with terror as they begged for mercy. Valeria smiled, her expression cold and unfeeling, and with a flick of her wrist, unleashed a wave of black magic that consumed them entirely.
Lin's chest tightened as the realization began to dawn. These weren't just random visions. They were memories. Memories of the tyrant Empress Valeria.
"No," she whispered, her eyes wide with disbelief. "No, this can't be real."
But the pieces were falling into place, no matter how much she wished they wouldn't. The faces of the terrified servants, the grandeur of the room, the sheer power that had obliterated the chamber moments ago—it all felt eerily familiar.
And then she remembered.
The novel.
Sylphina's Redemption.
Lin froze, her breath catching in her throat. The memories, the setting, even the name "Valeria" itself everything matched the book she had read just before her death. The tyrant Alpha who had brought ruin to countless lives, only to be defeated by the hero's love for Sylphina.
Her blood ran cold. She wasn't just in a random fantasy world. She was in that world.
And she wasn't just anyone. She was the villain.
"The hell kind of joke is this?" she muttered, her voice shaky. Her head throbbed as more memories fought their way to the surface. She clenched her fists, the weight of the realization crashing down on her like a tidal wave.
Her mind raced, recalling the scorn she had felt for the novel. How she had mocked its predictable plot, laughed at the idea of Valeria losing to the male hero because of the "power of love." How she had arrogantly thought to herself, If I were Valeria, I'd do better.
Those words now echoed in her mind, bitter and mocking. She had scoffed at the character, ridiculed her failure. And now, she was her.
Lin stood abruptly, her sudden movement causing the maids to flinch violently. Their fear was palpable, and for the first time, Lin truly understood it. In their eyes, she wasn't Lin Wei. She was Empress Valeria, the ruthless tyrant capable of destroying them with a single thought.
"Get out," Lin said, her voice low but steady.
The maids remained frozen, their bodies stiff with fear.
"I said, get out!" she shouted, her voice ringing through the ruined chamber.
The maids scrambled to their feet, their movements clumsy in their panic. They fled the room, their footsteps echoing down the hall until silence once again filled the space.
Lin stood alone amidst the destruction, her chest rising and falling with uneven breaths. The weight of her situation pressed down on her, suffocating and inescapable.
She stared at her hands, the same hands that had conjured that destructive black orb moments ago. They trembled slightly, though whether from fear or something else, she wasn't sure.
Her own words came back to haunt her: If I were Valeria, I'd do better.