The Awakening of a Tyrant: Reborn to Rule
She sat in her private office, the air thick with anticipation for the "Best Novel" award results. Beside her sat her so-called "friend," whose stories reeked of fragility and submission. Hana looked at her with hidden disdain; she loathed seeing women portrayed as victims on paper. Suddenly, the hall erupted in applause—Hana had won!
She walked out with the golden trophy in hand, but her joy was cut short by her ringing phone. "Family"—a word that meant nothing but chaos to her. Their cold voices came through: "Why don't you visit? Why have you become so heartless?"
Rage ignited in her chest. She spat words like fire into the phone: "Since when did you become a 'loving' family that cares?!" Blinded by fury, she crossed the street without looking, only to face a truck that didn't give her a second to breathe.
A deafening crash... silence... then blood began to paint a mural of death on the asphalt. Hana thought bitterly as her eyes closed: "Damn it... is even my end this weak and cliché?"
Everything sank into pitch black. She felt as if she were falling into a bottomless well before a brilliant light blinded her. She woke up in a panic, lying under a massive chandelier with crystals like raindrops. The bed was obscenely soft, and the room reeked of extravagant wealth.
"Where am I? Is this heaven?" she whispered in a voice she didn't recognize.
She stood up, her body trembling, and moved toward a mirror. She froze. This wasn't Hana with her short white hair and tired eyes. Standing there was a girl with long red hair waving like a raging flame, and grassy green eyes with a sharpness that could burn anyone.
Her eyes widened in shock. She said with bitter irony: "I don't believe it... Moments ago, I was arguing with my friend about this pathetic character in her novel, and now I am her?! To hell with my luck... I knew my life was miserable, but not enough to be imprisoned in a book!"
Hana (now in Holenia's body) paced the room like a caged beast in a golden cell, her voice shaking the foundations of the luxury suite:
"Damn it! Damn everything! Damn the day I read that failure's work! Of all the powerful heroines I've written, I fall into the body of this weak nobody? What wretched luck!"
Suddenly, the door burst open without a knock. A maid entered with a condescending look. Before she could speak, Hana's burning green gaze pierced through her.
Hana shouted: "You fool! Did no one teach you manners? Knock before you enter, or do you see this as an alleyway to come and go as you please?!"
The maid froze in shock; this wasn't the Holenia she knew. She stammered: "B-but... the Duke wants you now, he is summon—"
Hana cut her off with a mocking, insolent laugh: "He wants what? Does he see me as a sacrificial lamb to be called whenever he pleases? Go tell him I won't come! And if he's so desperate, let him find a maid to impersonate me. I don't want to see his face!"
Before the maid could process the words, Hana grabbed a glass vase and hurled it with all her might at the maid's head, screaming:
"And I don't want to see your face either... Get out!"
The vase shattered at the maid's feet as she fled, trembling. Hana stood there, breathing hard with a victorious smile, realizing that the rules of "weakness" in this novel were over forever.
The Confrontation
Hours later, after wrecking the room, Hana sat on a velvet sofa, legs crossed, chin resting on her hand with eyes gleaming with cunning: "Now... it's time to plan. I won't fight this war sitting still."
The door opened again without a knock. Without looking up, she said in a calm, provocative voice: "How many times must I repeat myself? This isn't an alleyway for you to violate my privacy."
She looked up to find him... a man with short black hair and stern green eyes radiating authority, flanked by her older brother. Fury and shock sparked in their eyes. The brother growled: "Holenia! You've become so insolent... you were never like this! How dare you insult the maid and defy Father's order?"
Hana rose slowly, her green eyes blazing. She approached them with a boldness they had never seen:
"Who are you to advise me? Advise yourself first! You don't even know how to knock like a self-respecting man... Where are your manners? Did you toss them in the trash before entering?"
Their eyes widened, but she gave them no chance to respond, continuing with limitless audacity:
"By the way, I don't want to see your face, or anyone's face in this fractured family. To me, you are all annoying nobodies! From now on, I will make hell breathe under your feet. You'll wish I had remained that 'damn good girl' you used to trample on!"
The Duke stared in disbelief, his voice a mix of confusion and anger: "What happened to make you this monstrous?! A week ago, you weren't this savage... What possessed you?"
Holenia (Hana) laughed—a cold, hollow laugh that sent shivers down her brother's spine. She stopped abruptly, glaring at the Duke:
"What did you expect? That I'd keep standing by while you step on me like a bug? Or did you think I'd remain that weak girl begging for your pathetic love?"
She took a step forward, closing the distance:
"Listen well, I'll say it to your face once... From now on, you will see me for who I truly am. To be precise, I don't need your love, nor anyone in your sick family. If any of you dare interfere in my life, you will see misery. My next blow will be enough to bring anyone to their senses... Understood?"
She pointed a finger at the Duke's face, warning him with chilling coldness:
"Even you... if you stand in my way, I will let hell bind you and throw you to the dogs. Don't you dare think I am weak; the person who can raise their voice over mine hasn't been born yet!"
The Duke's chest tightened: "Listen, Holenia, I don't care what's wrong with you, but there are laws in this palace, and the first is respecting those above you in status and age!"
Hana erupted in a mocking laugh:
"Oh, the laws? Were they applied when I was quiet as a breeze? When they stepped on me like I was nothing, everything was 'perfect' in your eyes, wasn't it?"
She stepped toward him, her eyes burning through his fake dignity:
"Now, because I dared to raise my voice, I am the villain? Fine! Make me the villain of the entire Empire; I no longer care for your opinion. If you see me as insolent... then simply pretend you don't see me at all!"
She leaned into his ear and hissed:
"Pretend to be blind, just as you did when the nobles mocked me, or when the servants mistreated me at the dining table right before your eyes. You looked away as if I didn't exist... And now, suddenly, your sight has returned to distinguish right from wrong?"
The Bloody Feast
The next morning, Hana woke to the voice of the maid she nearly killed. "My Lady... the Duke wants you."
Hana replied with chilling indifference: "And I'll make you want death if you don't vanish right now."
She didn't bother with strict traditions, walking out in nightwear forbidden for her age. She headed to the dining hall. To her surprise, it wasn't just the Duke; the Emperor, Grandfather Harriet, and Grandmother Rosie were all present.
With a violent kick, Hana shattered the silence of the hall, opening the door like a merciless hurricane. Spoons froze mid-air. She pulled a chair at the end of the table with a provocative screech and sat down: "Come on... bring the food so we can end this boring family drama and I can go back to my room."
Grandfather Harriet slammed the table: "What has happened to you? What is this disgraceful behavior?"
Hana looked at him from the corner of her eye: "What is it to you? Mind yourself or your wife. Why stick your nose where it doesn't belong?"
Dead silence. The Duke covered his face in shame while the Emperor watched in awe. When a plate was placed before her, Hana sniffed it, took one bite, and hurled the plate at the maid's face.
"See? Even in this 'insolence,' you still give me dog food?" She looked at the maids with a demonic smile: "It seems raising dogs has become difficult lately; we must return to the old way... the stick."
The first wife, Lily, tried to intervene: "What is wrong with you?"
Hana snapped: "Are you blind? They were messing with my food under your watch. Or are you an accomplice? If so, prepare to get your share as well!"
Before the maid could react, Hana grabbed her hair with an iron grip and slammed her head against the table repeatedly until blood stained the luxury carpet.
Hana stood with blood on her hands, her voice calm and terrifying:
"From now on, recalculate your positions. The person before you is not the old Holenia... you are facing a demon incarnate, and this is just one chapter of the hell that awaits you!"
The second wife, Leticia, stood trembling with rage: "Holenia! Such insolence before the Imperial family?!"
Without waiting a second, Hana snatched a knife from the table and threw it with precision. It sliced the air, grazing Leticia's cheek before thumping into the wood behind her.
A lethal terror filled the room. Hana's voice was like the hiss of a snake: "Careful not to raise your voice at me... No one who yells at me leaves unscathed. Do you hear me?"
She looked at everyone with eyes burning with hatred: "You all watched and laughed while they toyed with my food. You dragged me to noble parties just to watch them mock me... Did you think I was stupid?"
She turned to the Duke: "I know my mother married this man—whom I am not honored to call 'father'—as a contract, then left me. But I was a human with dignity! I treated you with kindness, and you trampled on me. Now? I'm flipping the table on all of you."
She raised her voice until the hall shook: "Since you tried to step on me, I will grind you under my feet! Show me what you have, and I will show you the hell I carry. I don't recommend trying, because I will make death haunt you for the rest of your lives!"
With a final display of power, she lifted a heavy chair and smashed it into the middle of the table. She turned and kicked the door open, leaving behind a silence torn by fear and a regret that began to seep into their hearts.