My DogeCoin hit the jackpot.
It skyrocketed. It was, quite literally, a massive, colossal success.
I had amassed close to ten billion won—several billion, right in my hands.
‘Wow. Just how many zeros is this…?’
Incredibly, I had become wealthy overnight to a scale I couldn’t even fathom.
Who would have thought that a coin I’d bought ages ago, pestered by a university senior, only to completely forget about it… would end up like this?
My past flashed before my eyes.
A year ago, I was left all alone after my parents and older brother died in an accident during a trip they took without me.
Perhaps because my parents had severed ties with our extended family while they were alive, no relatives came to the funeral.
I feel guilty saying this, but since life was so hard, I put the little inheritance they left me into stocks.
I figured that since I was only going to live once and would likely never be able to afford my own home, this was better than the lottery.
And it was only after losing everything that I realized stocks were not for me.
Then, while I was agonizing over whether or not to quit my job at that “shitty company,” I remembered the DogeCoin I had bought back in the day, seeing as everyone around me kept talking about coins, coins, coins.
“Tsk, tsk. This is why you shouldn’t hire people from regional universities.”
My superior was busy belittling people every time he opened his mouth, and I dreamed of nothing but escaping from under his thumb.
In a world where the possibility of transferring to a better company was hazy, the only thing to believe in was a sudden windfall!
‘But I succeeded without even expecting it, and it was a massive jackpot at that?’
Father, Mother in heaven, are you doing well? Your daughter’s life has turned around.
‘Manager Kim, you son of a bitch! Good riddance! Hahahaha!’
Goodbye, everyone!
I am casting off all the shackles and bondage of this world and leaving to find my happiness.
That day, I didn’t exactly slap Manager Kim’s cheek with my resignation letter… but I did quit the company.
‘First, I’m going to enjoy a trip abroad!’
I used the money I’d saved to book a first-class seat to an island I’d been dying to visit.
That part was good. It was really good, but…
There was a plane crash.
A plane crash—something with even lower odds than winning the lottery!
And I died on the spot.
‘Damn it, what kind of disaster is this?! Ugh, even thinking about it now, it’s so unfair. Waaah, my coins! My money!’
Truly, I died without even being able to properly spend those several billion won.
If only I had lived it up in Las Vegas before dying, that would be one thing.
In first class! I hadn’t even eaten the in-flight meal yet!
‘I can’t die like this! I can’t die!!’
*Sob sob sob.*
If I’d known this, I would have lived a little less miserably!
My money! My overseas trip! Waaah!
I should have slapped that bastard Manager Kim at least once!
* * *
When I opened my eyes, as if waking from a long sleep after crying my heart out, I saw an unfamiliar ceiling.
What is this? Am I dreaming even after death?
“H-h-have you awakened! Lady Charlize!”
As I opened my eyes and sat up, I saw someone who looked absolutely terrified.
They ran off so quickly that I couldn’t even see their face.
‘Where is this? Why is the furniture like this?’
I stood there blankly, taking in the scenery. Coincidentally, there was a mirror nearby, so I caught my reflection.
As soon as I saw the mirror, my mouth fell slightly open.
“Wow, that’s insane.”
A breathtakingly beautiful woman was blinking back at me from the mirror.
Her pink hair was slightly lusterless but flowing, and her red eyes were tilted up in a haughty gaze.
Even her slender, gracefully curved figure was stunning.
1.
Though her complexion was wan and pale, as if she hadn’t slept in days, she was still breathtakingly beautiful—a fact that rendered her exhaustion irrelevant.
Gazing into the mysterious depths of her eyes, I couldn’t help but think that if this woman ever tried to seduce me, I’d be fan-girling like a lunatic, screaming, “Unni! I love you!”
I enjoyed staring into the mirror for quite some time before I finally paused.
‘Wait, didn’t the person who left earlier call me “Charlize”? That’s a familiar name…’
Why did it feel so familiar? As the thought crossed my mind, I flinched, my eyes darting around the room.
“Liquor bottles?”
Goodness, what is all this…
The room was in shambles. Empty liquor bottles were scattered everywhere, and the bed linens and tapestries were soaked through, as if alcohol had been splashed across the furniture in a drunken stupor.
Judging by the piles of empty bottles in the corner, I suspected the person who had just left must have been cleaning up the mess.
I took a step forward, only to trip over something near my toes.
A scroll? It was a rolled-up piece of parchment, the kind you’d see in a historical drama.
Strangely, it floated into the air and began to unfurl of its own accord.
“Wh-what the…”
[I am a god.
Sorry, but I brought you here to correct an error in my world.
For the time limit of one year, you must maintain your engagement to ‘Askin Remut’ as a villainess.
However, you must never be caught as an imposter.
Upon success, I will return your DogeCoin.]
“…Is this some kind of supernatural phishing scam?”
That was the only thought that came to me, raw and unbidden.
It made no sense, of course, but it was all I could muster.
‘Wait a minute—that face, the role of a villainess, and the name Charlize…’
As the pieces locked into place, a jolt of lightning struck my brain.
Suddenly, I remembered where I had seen it all.
The description matched the villainess from the 19-rated dark romance novel I had read: 『Surviving As The Tyrant’s Empress』.
Charlize was a villainess who, until the female lead arrived, had been doted upon by the male lead and her maternal grandfather while wreaking havoc on everyone around her. The plot revolved around the female lead swooping in to comfort the villainess’s victims, eventually turning the men into obsessed stalkers and pitting them against one another.
To describe Charlize in a single line: she was a total bitch.
Not only did she have a penchant for heavy drinking, but she was so obscenely obsessed with handsome men that she tried to touch every attractive male in the novel. She used her power to incite violence, or, when she was drunk, she would simply beat them herself. Her list of atrocities was endless.
My head throbbed.
‘Where did the parchment go?’
At some point, the floating scroll had simply vanished.
No matter how I searched, not a single trace remained.
If it was gone, did that mean the message was real?
‘Can I really go back and get my money?’
I gasped.
Of course, the process didn’t look like it would be a walk in the park.
‘Askin Remut—that’s the man who helped the female lead kill the villainess in the book…’
He was her fiancé, yet he was also the man who had been tormented the most by her and, as a result, loathed her with every fiber of his being.
But the message said I only had to maintain the engagement for one year, right?
If I did that, I could go home and get my money back. That actually sounded manageable!
While I was spiraling in confusion, the door opened quietly. Two people rushed inside.
It was an elderly maid. As soon as she caught sight of me, she blurted out, “Ch-Charlize, my lady… the Duke is asking for you.”
“…….”
If it was the Duke, that had to be Charlize’s maternal grandfather.
At that moment, the image of a handsome, imposing old man flickered in my mind.
Following that, a rush of memories surfaced—memories that belonged to the villainess, Charlize.
Through them, I realized exactly how she typically treated her grandfather.
‘Did the scroll say I shouldn’t be caught?’
In that case, I needed to play it cool.
“Alright.”
1.
I stood up abruptly, and the maid beside me hurried over to drape a shawl over my shoulders.
For some reason, as I looked at her, I noticed she was smoothing the fabric with trembling hands, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.
“I-I will escort you, my Lady.”
This 19-rated novel, Surviving As The Tyrant’s Empress—or Surviving the Tyrant for short—didn’t use the word “surviving” lightly.
The male lead was a tyrant, and the story was infamous for its themes of obsession and confinement, populated by a gallery of unstable men, including the tyrant himself.
‘The most deranged of them all, the one who made me wonder how he was even the protagonist, was Loxidian. He was the older brother of the villainess I’ve become, Charlize, wasn’t he?’
As the female lead’s sister-in-law, Charlize not only tormented her relentlessly but grew green with envy whenever a handsome man she coveted showed interest only in the heroine.
In short, she was a character defined by her cruel, vicious attempts to break the female lead.
“Umm, L-Lady?”
I had stopped walking, lost in thought, and the maid was watching me anxiously. When I turned to look at her, she clearly misinterpreted my stare, for she began to tremble and quickly bowed her head.
I opened my mouth, striving for a tone that sounded as natural as possible.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Y-you were drinking in the private parlor yesterday, so… the Duke asked to see you this morning….”
My question didn’t seem to strike her as odd. The maid answered while keeping her head bowed, her voice stuttering.
As we walked, I gathered that Charlize had been sent away on a “journey” after causing a massive incident. Having just returned home yesterday, she had immediately thrown a wild, drunken tantrum.
‘Ah, no wonder the room was a wreckage of liquor bottles.’
So, my haggard appearance was the result of a hangover.
The woman accompanying me was Madam Larvil, the nanny who had raised Charlize since she was a child.
“Duke… I have brought the young lady.”
Stepping into the room, I found myself face-to-face with the Duke of Alzbeit, Charlize’s maternal grandfather. My memories confirmed his identity.
He was a handsome elderly man, yet his eyes held a frigidity that was chilling to behold.
“Sit.”
Madam Larvil bowed and retreated. I swept my gaze across the room, deciding to observe before acting.
‘Let me see exactly what’s happening here.’
The moment I sat down, Madam Larvil stepped out and the door clicked shut.
“Hah, so you couldn’t even hold back from throwing a drinking party, could you?”
The Duke rubbed his chin, his expression weary.
There was only one other person standing beside him, and for some reason, his gaze toward me was far from kind.
“It was only yesterday that I warned you to behave yourself upon your return. Not even a day has passed… tsk. Why must you persist in such unsightly behavior?”
The Duke’s tongue-clicking was sharp, and his expression remained icy.
Yet, his eyes held a subtle warmth, a flicker of something softer than what I had first perceived. If I had to interpret it, he looked at me like a grandfather regarding a deeply immature granddaughter.
“There is one fact you must understand, something that occurred while you were away.”
The softness vanished, replaced by an even colder severity.
“Your fiancé, the Duke of Remut, has requested to dissolve your engagement.”