The Puppet Villainess’s Splendid Rebellion - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 1

Why did it come to this.

I barely managed to support my collapsing body with trembling arms.

Sticky blood flowing down from my torn forehead covered my vision.

The skin that had been scraped and bruised while being dragged to the Underground Dungeon was covered in bruises and torn in various places, causing continuous pain both large and small.

It hurt terribly.

I could have writhed in this unfamiliar agony, but other thoughts were completely dominating my mind instead.

“Something’s wrong, something…”

Just three days ago, I was this country’s one and only princess.

Lorea Pryce.

The Imperial Court’s most precious yet vulgar jewel.

A cruel and cunning villainess.

A beautiful demon adorned in gold.

All those wretched epithets belonged to me.

The nobles despised me while also fearing me.

Though I was a half-princess who didn’t even know her birth mother, I had nothing to worry about.

Because this country’s sun, the one and only Emperor, was on my side. Because he gave me everything I wanted.

But then why…

“All authority and positions of Princess Lorea Pryce are hereby revoked, and she shall be imprisoned forever in the Underground Dungeon.”

‘Why would Father make such a decision? Father wouldn’t do such a thing.’

Everyone except me cheered at that sudden verdict. The people poured out curses and threw stones as if they had been waiting for this moment.

“Never come back, you demon!”

“Filthy witch, go rot in hell!”

The dirty, damp floor I would never have set foot on normally, the rotting stench that pierced my nose, the swarming rats and insects.

All of this felt surreal.

“Why, why am I…”

That’s when it happened.

Suddenly, faint footsteps echoed from the entrance of the Underground Dungeon.

They grew closer and closer before finally stopping in front of the iron bars.

I urgently crawled on my knees and grabbed the iron bars.

“…Father!”

“My, what a sorry state you’re in.”

There was no sympathy in Father’s voice as he said this. Rather, it sounded mocking.

Why?

“Father, why are you doing this? Something must be wrong, right? There’s no reason… no reason for you to do this to me.”

“You still seem to have some strength left.”

“Father, why on earth!”

Strength briefly surged into my hands gripping the iron bars.

“I lived exactly as you wanted, Father. I became a villainess for the Imperial Court, became the people’s fear. Everything, everything was just as you wished…!”

Cough, a bloody cough burst out. My throat felt like it would tear apart.

“…It’s all wrong, isn’t it? You have some other plan, don’t you?”

I was the Imperial Court’s necessary evil.

Whenever the Imperial Court needed to oppress the empire’s citizens or implement policies that would draw resentment, they always put my name forward.

I believed without doubt that this was my value.

So Father couldn’t possibly abandon me.

“You need me!”

I screamed desperately.

But something was strange.

Father only looked down at me dryly, as if observing.

“I’ve shed more blood than this solely for the Imperial Court. You know that.”

I frantically gathered the blood pooled on the floor.

It was sticky, dark, and red.

The thing that had made me, who didn’t even know my birth mother, into a precious princess.

The thing that only I possessed, despite not being of any legitimate bloodline.

Blood that could control unstable magical energy.

The Emperor calmly nodded his head.

“Yes, that’s right. You and your blood have made tremendous contributions to this Imperial Court.”

“Then why…!”

“What choice do I have? The people’s anger grows thicker, and the purity of magic in your blood keeps decreasing.”

For the first time, regret showed in the Emperor’s voice.

A crimson purification stone rattled in his wrinkled hands.

“Before you become completely useless, I must secure it all to produce more purification stones, mustn’t I?”

“…What.”

“You must fulfill your purpose, for this Imperial Court’s power.”

Thud, something collapsed inside me.

“That’s a lie…”

Just for that reason.

Throwing me into the mud and casting me aside without mercy.

Just to extract a large amount of blood all at once.

The strength left my hands gripping the iron bars. Both arms dropped powerlessly.

“…”

I had vaguely known all along.

That from the beginning, I was nothing more than a chess piece for this Imperial Family.

That someday I might be discarded.

Still, they were my only family.

So I wanted to be useful.

Even if I couldn’t be loved.

I wanted to be valuable.

“…Let me ask just one thing.”

I struggled to lift my body once more. And I looked into the golden eyes of the Emperor that bore no resemblance to mine.

“Even once. Have you ever cherished me as a daughter? Even for a moment….”

My voice broke intermittently.

“Though I’m only half, still, still me….”

“A daughter.”

But the Emperor’s expression was strange.

He bit his lip, trying to suppress his laughter, but finally couldn’t hold back and burst into loud laughter.

The ear-splitting sound of laughter echoed thunderously through the Underground Dungeon.

“Ahahaha! You foolish thing!”

“…Emperor?”

“Who on earth told you that you were half my child? Hmm?”

What could this mean?

He asked with a contemptuous expression as if looking at vermin. Bang! His heavy boot kicked the iron bars.

“Listen carefully.”

A thick hand thrust through the iron bars grabbed my collar. Silver hair that resembled mine draped down like a curtain.

“House of Carter, Duke.”

At the suddenly mentioned name, I unconsciously froze.

“I only used you to crush those vermin underfoot.”

“…What do you.”

Thud, the Emperor roughly released my collar.

My vision swayed dizzily.

“Still don’t understand?”

He clicked his tongue as if I were pathetic.

“Who did you think those sinister red eyes of yours came from?”

The Emperor sneered triumphantly.

“Rather than that, tell me how you feel. How is it? The feeling of strangling your father and brother with your own hands and casting them into ruin.”

His expression as he said this looked infinitely pleased. His bright yellow eyes gleamed like those of a snake.

So I couldn’t bring myself to understand his words.

Neither the Emperor laughing with his mouth stretched wide before my eyes, nor the name that suddenly pierced my eardrums. Nothing was easy to accept.

Carlos Carter, Duke.

The Imperial Court’s greatest enemy who inherited Imperial blood.

Also the man I had strangled and destroyed with purification stones, ultimately driving to his death.

Solely to cut off the lineage of House of Carter, Duke, hadn’t I made even his one remaining heir into a cripple with my own hands?

But….

“That can’t… be.”

They were my family?

“My, what a miserable expression. Do you feel pity for your blood relatives now?”

“No, no, it’s a lie….”

“No, it’s true.”

“….”

“Because I made it so.”

I stole you from your family.

And raised you as Loreia.

The Emperor smiled in circles. As if Lorea’s horrific expression was some entertaining spectacle.

“Regrettably, there’s nothing to be done now. The Duke is already dead, your brother has become a cripple, and you’re trapped in this Underground Dungeon.”

“….”

“Still, don’t worry too much. At least you won’t die here right now. Your blood is scheduled to be put to valuable use until the very end.”

The Emperor smiled, stretching his lips wide.

Seeing that smile, I felt something in my head snap with a click.

The Emperor would not kill me in this place.

He would frame me as a villainess, isolate me from society, and when the time suited him, he would plunge a knife into my heart to kill me.

“…Contaminated blood cannot be used for purification stones. It would be troublesome for you if I died in this filthy dungeon.”

“Oh, you understand well.”

Praise came back from the Emperor, saying I was clever.

“So you may feel honored. Your impure bloodline will be erased, and you will become Loreia who devoted herself to the Empire.”

The Emperor, meeting my eye level, swallowed his chuckling laughter.

“Though of course, no one will acknowledge it.”

There was no trace of the affectionate father figure who had cherished me, at least outwardly, until now.

As if everything had been a lie, there was only the Emperor rejoicing at the demise of his enemy’s daughter.

“Do you understand? Lorea.”

Lorea.

At the sound of my name being called, I reflexively swallowed empty air.

The Emperor had never once called me by name. He only used titles like ‘my jewel’ or ‘Princess.’

How desperately I had struggled just to hear that name.

Yet my wish was fulfilled now, when my entire life was being denied and death was right before my eyes.

Truly, everything felt like a dream.

“I’m quite grateful to you. To think you’d be a precious chess piece until the very end.”

At the Emperor’s finishing blow, the strength in my hands gave out with a thud.

I felt my body temperature growing cold.

“Heh… hehaha.”

Laughter came out.

I couldn’t bear it without laughing.

“…Have you finally gone mad?”

“Haha, ha…”

I stopped laughing abruptly and looked at him.

“…I understand your intention to use me well. However.”

My vision was a mess with what might have been tears or blood.

“Then you should have been more thorough, Your Majesty.”

What came next wasn’t difficult.

I reached my arm through the iron bars and swiftly drew the sword from the Emperor’s waist.

“You seem to have forgotten how cunning a wench your Princess is.”

And without giving him a chance to stop me, I aimed the blade precisely at my heart.

The Emperor’s eyes widened.

“No!”

Thunk!

“Cough.”

As the blade pierced through my heart, terrible pain engulfed my entire body. A bloody cough burst out.

“My, my blood…!”

The Emperor’s face turned pale. He forced his arm through the iron bars trying to gather the blood, but it was futile. Despair settled on his face.

I looked straight at him.

At the end, at least at the end.

I would not fulfill his will.

“…May Your Majesty’s path ahead be filled only with ruin.”

With a curse born of spite, my exhausted body collapsed helplessly.

In the cold underground prison, as all the blood drained coldly from my body.

At last, I smiled brightly.

* * *

“…ness, Your Highness.”

“…”

“Are you alright?”

…Princess?

When I suddenly opened my eyes, I was sitting under warm sunlight, not in that filthy, damp prison.

‘The smell of perfume…’

I reflexively frowned.

I saw a maid who met my eyes through the mirror startle in surprise and hastily bow her head.

“I, I’m sorry! You weren’t responding!”

…What?

I definitely died.

Because Lorea couldn’t easily accept the situation, she kept her head still and only moved her eyes to survey her surroundings.

‘Did I survive? No, something’s different.’

That made sense, because this was a familiar yet strange place. The Princess’s bedchamber where I had stayed until my coming-of-age ceremony.

I looked in the mirror again.

I had a very youthful face.

I looked to be in my early to mid-teens at most.

I pinched my cheek firmly. The soft flesh pressed down and stretched to the side.

“…Ah.”

It hurt.

Not as much as when I stabbed the sword into my heart, though.

“What year is it now?”

“Pardon?”

The maid asked back in bewilderment, then seeing my cold expression, answered while breaking out in a cold sweat.

“It, it’s Imperial Year 1043.”

Seven years ago.

When I was thirteen years old.

‘Ha.’

I let out a hollow breath.

This isn’t something like coming back to life.

I’ve returned.

To the past.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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