The Tyrant’s Tranquilizer

The bird flew towards the window, crying out as it announced the morning’s arrival. As Amelie gently opened her eyes, a wooden pillar came into view.

‘Ah, I can’t get used to this.’

She sat upright and turned her head towards the window. The morning sunlight glistened through the forest, streaming through the glass in an unfamiliar way.

Her original name was Lee Sooyeon and she was an ordinary woman in her 20s, working in Seoul. Normally, she’d open her eyes in her studio’s building within a gray forest – not in some cottage in the woods.

‘Come to think of it… it was all so sudden.’

Two weeks ago, it was a normal day, just like any other. She went to work, worked, and left.

As soon as she left work, Sooyeon read a novel. It was a fantasy novel about a woman’s revenge.

The main character was Renee Delaheim, the daughter of a count. The Delaheim territory was awfully peaceful. Although her sister had become the Emperor’s lover and lived in the Imperial Palace, their family possessed little power.

But one day, the Emperor killed her sister, annihilated her family and destroyed their territory. Renee was the only survivor. She took advantage of her talent with the sword, concealed her identity and entered the Imperial House.

When Renee saw how miserable her sister was, she realized the truth about the circumstances of the country. Whilst avenging her sister, she became the leader of the rebel army.

The part Sooyeon was reading was the climax of the novel. It was the scene where Renee, the rebel leader, and the Emperor fought their final duel. The Emperor, a swordmaster, was not an easy opponent. After a brutal battle, Renee killed the Emperor.

‘Yahoo! Now we’re talking!’

She didn’t know how long she’d been waiting for this. She couldn’t wait to see this scene when she was reading the novel. Sooyeon grasped her cell phone in her hands and thoroughly appreciated the climax.

‘Now the main character will walk on a flower road, right?’

However, the story did not go as she expected. There was a sudden unexpected twist.

In fact, the Emperor’s body was sealed with a ‘calamity’. The moment Renee killed him, the seal was broken. As the ‘calamity’ was released, the world began to collapse.

The ground dried up and the rain stopped; the earth cracked and shook. A plague surged through the city, killing hundreds of people a day. The drinkable water was sullied with corpses and flocks of bugs streaked the sky. It was truly the end.

‘Thinking about it makes me angry.’

Sooyeon clenched her fist, crumpling her soft quilt.

Renee was not at fault. She just wanted to avenge her family. In the process, she opened her eyes to the greater goal of saving the world. It was only natural to kill her enemy, the tyrant who was ruining the country.

But all that trouble led to destruction.

‘Do you know how much time and money I spent reading this novel… only to find it had this kind of ending? Does the writer even know the difference between right and wrong? Huh?!’

Absentmindedly, Sooyeon struggled with her phone.

If you’re going to do something like this, don’t pretend that the Emperor is the final boss! Ending with a scene where disaster spreads……….

“It’s annoying. When’s the next episode coming out?”

She felt like she was being choked and wanted to throw a tantrum[2]. Sooyeon launched her cell phone into a corner and lay down on her bed. Then, she closed his eyes and muttered.

“I can write better than this, ugh.”

Then, she heard someone’s voice in her ear.

[Then, why don’t you try?]

Someone else’s voice, even though she lives alone?

When she opened her eyes in astonishment, Sooyeon found herself in this body.

The name of this body was Amelie Beauxbon.

The main character’s little sister – the character who served as the trigger for Renee’s trauma in the novel.

The lover of the tyrant Emperor; the woman who was neglected and brutally murdered.

A woman who was doomed from the beginning! A woman who didn’t make an appearance!

“I only insulted a novel. Did you really have to do this? Huh?!”

Sooyeon yelled at the air. She couldn’t recall the amount of times she repeated those words, but she couldn’t stop feeling the anger and resentment. If you’re going to do this because of an insult, why are you leaving the viewers of soap operas from all over the world alone? Why only me?!

Regardless of her complaints, nothing changed. It’d already been two weeks since Sooyeon had originally possessed Amelie’s body. She tried everything she could to get back to her original body, but everything stayed the same.

‘I’m screwed. It’s all ruined.’

Amelie’s life was miserable in itself.

By accident, the tyrant Emperor came to hunt in the forest of Fidelia and met Amelie, who lived there alone. He falls in love with her at first sight and takes her to the Imperial Palace. But ever since she came to the Imperial Palace, she was neglected by the Emperor. Even though he brought her there, he wasn’t interested. Count Delaheim asked for her back, but the Emperor refused.

Amelie lived a sad and pathetic life and was bullied relentlessly to the point where even the laundry maids ignored and ridiculed her.

Eventually, she died at the hands of the Emperor. The Emperor then convicted Count Delaheim with charges of rebellion, using Amelie. All the Delaheims were executed, and the Emperor’s knights slaughtered everyone on their land.

‘I’m scared….’

Sooyeon couldn’t stand it. How miserably Amelie lived in the Imperial Palace… how detailed her death was in the novel. It was all a way to justify the hero’s revenge.

Sooyeon tangled herself in her blanket. I don’t want to die, I don’t even want to go to the Imperial Palace and get tormented.Even if I’m possessing a character, I can’t believe it’s a character who’s about to die!

After crying for a few days, Sooyeon started thinking realistically.

‘What should I do from now on?’

Since the day she started living as that character, Sooyeon was at a constant loss. According to the original, the Emperor would come visit her before the end of winter.

And then they’ll go to the Imperial Palace together.

There were two things she could do at this moment:

One, change the future using the knowledge she had of the novel. Two, screw up and don’t look back.

Of course, Sooyeon’s choice was the second. There was nothing to think twice about; for her, the only option was to run away.

And so she would. In a year, the fully-fledged story of the novel will begin. All the information she obtained from the novel was a year from now, so it was highly unlikely to help. There was no guarantee that the future would go according to the novel.

Moreover, Sooyeon was afraid of the Emperor. There was a big reason for that. The Emperor was well known as a fickle and cruel man who releases his slaves, only to hunt them for sport, and performs sadistic actions upon the Empress. He only did what she could call ‘the worst’. A dense person like her could only run as soon as she got to the Imperial Palace.

‘I want to live. I have to run.’

A supporting character like Amelie, who had death flags everywhere, would hardly be able to live peacefully. She had to run away quickly before meeting the Emperor in the forest.

Fortunately, Sooyeon had all of Amelie’s memories.

Amelie Beauxbon was a witch – a priest that worships spirits. They used a special type of magic, passed on to girls only through their mothers.

It was extremely rare for witches to become well-known, as they are unsociable in nature. Ordinary people would think of them as strange magic women. Twenty years ago, a witch hunt swept through the entire kingdom, so they went into hiding.

Still, Sooyeon took the fact that she was a witch positively. She was living on her own, but possessed no basic skills. On the surface, witches were persecuted… but underneath, their fortune-telling and magic potions were in demand.

Since doctors were so expensive, commoners were often left uncared for. They naturally had no choice but to rely on witches. Especially in the case of women, as most men were doctors, so they felt more comfortable with witches.

Having this ability meant Sooyeon thought she could settle down wherever she went. Soon after, she decided to leave the Fidelia forest.

But it took time to practice moving objects. Even though she knew the world from the novel, practicing the actual magic was different. Amelie had never been outside the forest; since she didn’t know what the world outside the forest was like, her memories had no use for Sooyeon. In this situation, it was too dangerous to travel alone.

Not only money and food were needed to endure while finding a place to settle, but also medicine and so on were essential. She needed to know how the world works.

For two weeks, Sooyeon prepared to flee.

She needed to find valuable things in her house and sell them one by one, buy some food… and learn some magic. Amelie was a witch, but since she was an idiot, she didn’t know how to properly use her magic. She only learned how to control it so that it wouldn’t cause accidental damage.

Fortunately, there were magic books left by her grandmother, a witch, all over the house. The books

were well organized in terms, so Sooyeon practiced magic simultaneously whilst reading.

At first, she wondered what it would be like to read the book, but strangely enough, she was able to use her magic at the same time. The contents of the book were similar to, ‘Clench your hand if you want to grab something’, so it felt very natural to Sooyeon. Whilst reading, she wondered what to do; if she just followed the instructions, she’d find magic simple. Well, for witches, magic was a natural act as if moving arms and legs.

Due to her lack of time, Sooyeon only learned the basics of magic. Psychokinesis; moving things without touching them; transforming into animals and making magical potions.

In the meantime, Amelie’s magic and memories became part of her. She somehow naturally accepted that she was Amelie Beauxbon.

And today – the day of her long-awaited departure – it was bright outside.

Amelie got up slowly and, shortly after, cleaned and folded back her bedsheets. She also started her housework. Since she’d packed her belongings last night, cleaning the house would be easy. Amelie had the habit of carrying this and that around with her because she was so worried, mumbling, ‘Just in case…………’, and packing it. Because of that, the house was empty for a long time. If a stranger was to see it, they would have thought the owner moved away.

After finishing the housework, she prepared a meal and went out to the garden. Upon her arrival, she was greeted by a family of deer. They walked around her slowly. She’d seen them a few times in the past… ah, being this close to nature. It was surreal.

Amelia sat at the table, watching from a distance. Two loaves of white bread, a sausage full of thick, bursting gravy, a salad from the garden and a whole chicken… Having leftovers for breakfast is too much.

She took a bite of the soft bread, covered with fresh butter. It broke inside her mouth, blending with the salty flavour of the butter.

‘Delicious!’

The taste was different from the fake butter made from vegetable oil she used to buy at the mart. The sausage was made on a farm nearby, so it was very good. It was a fact that if you experience the fresh taste of tea during a meal like this, it was only a matter of time before you’ll empty your plate.

Enjoying the meal, Amelie recalled her troubles.

‘Should I tell my family I’m leaving?’

She knew that, every minute, the Emperor was getting closer to the forest of Fidelia. According to Amelie’s calculations, the Emperor would be very nearby at this point. But it bothered her to disappear without saying a word, knowing her family was there.

Moreover, she struggled to ignore the problem because she knew how much the main character, Renee, valued Amelie.

When she was living as Sooyeon, she had no family. She didn’t even know who her parents were. The police found a little girl wandering around, lost. Failing to find her parents, she was sent to a facility, where she was granted a name and an age. She grew up there.

That’s why throughout the novel, she used to sympathize deeply with Renee when the main character was longing for her family.

“Right. I’m just going to talk to them a little and then leave as soon as possible.”

Alright, you can do it! I can rest assured now that, soon, I’ll be able to live alone, safe from the death flag.

I think it would be better to speak face to face rather than sending a letter saying that I’m going on a trip.

Amelie got up from her seat with the rest of the bread in her mouth. It was time to leave.

[1] Living a good life

[2] Originally described as ‘baked potato’, an expression used for aggravating situations.