I woke up as the Villainous Empress

"There was a time when I walked with dignity, working diligently within the royal palace. I served as a court lady at the residence of Her Majesty, the Empress of the Zheng Empire, Yang Ning." Li Hua reflected, her voice quivering as the weight of the past bore down on her, memories that pursued her relentlessly to this day.

"Served as the court lady at the Empress residence? For Empress Yang Ning?" Yang Ning frowned and asked in confusion, not sure if she heard it correctly. Wasn't she just the writer of the novel? How come she served at the royal palace as the court lady? She wondered.

More than that, the woman was not addressing the ex-Empress Yang Lingxin who was exiled for poisoning His Majesty but Yang Ning. However, in the present scenario, the Emperor is still alive and Zheng Liang hasn't ascended the throne. She is still the Crown Princess.

Yang Ning's mind raced, and the pieces started to fall into place. "Are you suggesting," she began, a hint of realization in her eyes, "that you were a Court Lady in the novel world where Yang Ning, was the Empress?"

The woman offered a bitter smile and nodded.

Yang Ning's hand flew to her mouth in astonishment. She had never anticipated encountering someone who belonged to the fictional world and yet retained memories of its events.

It was beyond belief!

The woman let out a sigh of regret and guilt and continued, "To make things clear, I started working at the Royal Palace when His Highness's 25th banquet was held. It was my first day at the royal palace as a maid, and since then, I began working as a maid and later served as a court lady when the eldest lady of the Yang Household married the crown prince."

"After she became the Crown Princess and later the Empress, I continued to serve her."

Yang Ning was speechless when she heard that. She frowned and asked cautiously, "So you're saying that you wrote a novel about the people you were serving?"

Li Hua pursed her lips, feeling guilty about her crime, and nodded.

Yang Ning had her suspicions before, but seeing Lin Hua's expressions, it was confirmed that it was not just a fictional world but a world with real people in a different world, a different timeline.

Because the novel was not just a fictional creation but was based on true events. Is this the novel's world or a parallel world that she had only read about in fantasy novels? She wondered.

But before coming into this world, she was indeed reading the novel. She didn't understand if it was a parallel world or a novel world, but one thing was clear: the common factor between them was the novel.

Lin Hua fiddled with the rope tied to her hands and said, "I never wanted to work at the palace; I wanted to learn like my brother. I always enjoyed writing stories. However, in our societies, women were also stopped from following their wishes. Learning was only for men; only they could study and engage in scholarly pursuits. Moreover, they never considered writing novels as a respected occupation."

"My family forced me, and for the sake of my younger brothers' education and future and to pay my family's debt, I was sold to the palace and compelled to work as a maid. I was gradually promoted to the position of a court lady," the woman said with sadness in her eyes.

"Reading and writing novels were my sole sources of happiness in the world, but we weren't allowed to bring any novels into the palace. So, after stealing some paper from the study of His Highness, I started to write a novel—a novel that described the lives of the royalty, a story centered around their experiences."

"When I started, I didn't plan to write the entire novel. However, as I witnessed the complex events unfolding in front of me, the story that began randomly took the shape of a novel. It began to encompass palace politics, power struggles, and the pursuit of love.

At one point, other than serving Her Majesty, I was more focused on the events happening in their lives and gave them form in the shape of a novel."

Yang Ning was stunned at the woman's confession. She hadn't expected that this was the secret Li Hua had been harboring in her heart. "So…it wasn't just a fictional novel or a romance story, but someone's life events? You're saying that it was based on a real-life story?" Yang Ning asked, still in a daze.

Li Hua nodded and lowered her head, feeling guilty about how things had turned out. She still felt remorse for turning someone's life into a novel. She had envisioned Hou Wei, who was just a commoner like her and worked as a nurse, as the female protagonist, and Zheng Liang, the Crown Prince as the male protagonist.

For a compelling story, there needed to be a villain. The only person who could play the role of the antagonist in their love story was none other than the Empress, who was manipulated by her father.

As someone serving the Empress, she was well aware of the events taking place in the Empress's residence and how Yang Luoyang was orchestrating her. Li Hua never overstepped her boundaries as a court lady but didn't forget to incorporate these events into her novel, adding depth and realism to her story, and making it more dramatic and thrilling for readers.

However, she could never share it with anyone, if her novel were discovered by someone, she would be executed immediately.

Yang Ning pursed her lips and asked, "Even if you wrote the novel, how did things turn out like this? How did I become Yang Ning, and why are you in this state?"
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Li Hua took a deep breath and continued, " After Her Majesty was punished by His Majesty and stabbed to death, the servants at the Empress's residence were all investigated and punished. They also found my novel, and upon reading its contents, I was sentenced to death."

"They burned the novel in front of my eyes. As the flames consumed the pages, a guard also struck me with his sword. I thought I had died." Li Hua said, her voice trembling.

She looked at Yang Ning, her eyes filled with tears as she recalled the events. "I don't have answers to any of your questions. However, what I know is, the next moment, when I opened my eyes, I was back in time. It was the day before His Highness's 25th birthday banquet, the day I was supposed to join the royal palace as a maid."