Rise of the Unfavored Princess
I had thought that my life couldn't get worse when I walked in on my fiancé cheating on me with my best friend. But after a series of unfortunate events, I opened my eyes in a world that I had only read about in a webnovel, the Erudian Empire, ruled under the domineering, bloody reign of Emperor Helio. The worst part? I'm not even the main character! Reborn as Winter Royberg de la Erudian, I am the pitiful side character who is discovered to be a royal bastard princess due to a certain physical trait only the imperial bloodline possesses. But I know the end of Winter's story and the unwanted royal punching bag is framed as a witch and killed at age 16 on the guillotine due to the scheming of the cruel empress. An aloof, murder happy father? Check. Psycho half-sister? Check. Meddlesome author who wants me to follow the script? Double check! I don't want to die an early death again, so I'm determined not to ever be discovered as a royal again. But before I know it, I'm trapped in a palace of blood and opulence playing tricky games of power, games I have no clue how to win. How will I survive to adulthood in the imperial palace and get my happily ever after? And am I really the only person who fell into this world? *UPDATES 1-2 TIMES A WEEK* *1500 TO 3300 WORDS PER CHAPTER*
Ch. 231: The "Gift"
A few days after Julian had set out and left behind a strange silence that had once been full of his chatter, Nina pops her head in to inform me that I had received correspondence from Sunset Palace, the empress' residence.
I had just come back from a riding lesson, as riding with one hand is harder than it looks, so it is with stiff leather gloves that I receive the thick cut, luxurious paper that all of the empress' correspondence is written on. Below where her seal was specially printed onto the page, there is a brief message that I could hardly bother to read with the prominent list of handwritten names that burn my eyes.
"My riding gloves, please," I say out loud, my eyes focused on the paper as Wanda swoops past Nina's outstretched hands to remove them first, one by one.