In This Life, I Will Die As An Actress, Not As A Villainess [EN]: Chapter 36

The next day.

“…Please, kill me.”

“Stop, stop! Please stop asking to be killed.”

Inside the royal chamber, the Chief Eunuch knelt, confessing his sins.

I was starting to get tired of hearing about his sins.

It was time to order the Chief Eunuch to do something else.

“I will send a letter to Kim Ik-jae of Mansong. I intend to have it delivered directly to the Vice Minister.”

“But, Your Majesty, the Vice Minister….”

I cut off the Chief Eunuch’s words.

“I know. That’s why I want you to gather trustworthy eunuchs to escort the Vice Minister on his way.”

At that, the Chief Eunuch bowed his head as if he understood.

He looked much more relieved.

“And bring me a map of the capital. Oh, and summon Sun-im as well.”

After spending another tedious and tiresome day as the king, it was now a deep, dark night.

Inside a disused building, Sun-im, the Chief Eunuch, and I gathered around a desk.

“This is….”

Sun-im looked at the map with a puzzled expression.

I placed my finger on one side of the capital map.

“Here.”

Sun-im and the Chief Eunuch’s eyes followed the tip of my finger.

“If we openly cross the fortress walls, we’ll be caught. Assume that we have no allies, from the capital’s defense forces to the post station guards outside the city.”

Then, Sun-im hesitated and replied.

“Your Majesty, how can you be so sure?”

“Let’s just assume the worst-case scenario.”

The two of them widened their eyes and looked at me.

It was valuable information obtained at the cost of a life.

For a short time, the three of us put our heads together and discussed a plan to secretly escape the fortress walls.

Everything was progressing faster and faster.

If we can just get past this hurdle, it’ll be the ending.

As the goal came into sight, my desperation grew more and more.

* * *

And once again, failure.

It was expected.

However, because I received help from the eunuchs in escaping the capital, the Chief Eunuch was executed even more horribly than before.

As a result, I learned that the final gate was outside the capital. It was a close call.

‘I’m really almost there.’

“From here to here, we’ll receive help from Eunuch Kim, and after crossing the fortress walls, we need to avoid the post stations.”

During our secret meeting at night,

I pointed to a spot on the map, presenting the escape route with the Chief Eunuch and Sun-im in front of me.

“And you must never pass through here. Even if it’s a bit of a detour, take this road.”

Then, Sun-im’s eyes widened.

“How does Your Majesty know so well which places we shouldn’t pass through?”

The Chief Eunuch added, with a serious expression.

“Your Majesty. Have you perhaps been sneaking out without my knowledge?”

“Oh hush. What are you saying.”

The two people’s gazes were full of suspicion.

I had to make up some excuse.

“There’s a way I know everything. Do you think you’re the only eyes and ears I have in the palace?”

Then, Sun-im and the Chief Eunuch’s eyes were filled with question marks.

A look that seemed to say, ‘Who else is there besides us?’

I ignored it and turned my head.

“That’s not what’s important right now. We need to focus.”

I said in a somewhat heavy voice.

I was serious.

During the two failures, I had watched the Chief Eunuch and Sun-im being dragged away, getting hurt, and dying.

Even if they didn’t remember, those memories were piling up in my heart as guilt.

People in the script.

I watched Sun-im and the Chief Eunuch carefully examine the map once more.

They have warmth, hearts, and breath right in front of my eyes.

I sincerely hoped that they would survive in the script and achieve happiness.

“Your Majesty. I will engrave the path you have shown me in my heart.”

Sun-im said, looking at me.

“Yes, trust me and go. I won’t let you get hurt.”

At my words, Sun-im replied with a bright smile.

* * *

Another anxious night that I had become accustomed to.

I didn’t think I would be this anxious even if I were in a relationship later.

It was the first time in my life that I had waited and waited for something like this.

Having all sorts of random thoughts must be proof that the night is long.

Then, suddenly, a strange thought occurred to me.

‘What happened to Yoo Ji-an’s world?’

I was just struggling to escape the script in .

I wonder if everyone is doing well?

If the direction I’m trying now is the right way to complete the sequence, I’ll be out of the script soon, just like then.

Finally, if I overcome the Queen Dowager and get out of the script, what will happen to this world?

Will they live on, remembering the time I played the role of the king?

Won’t they be confused by the appearance of the king who will change again after I leave?

Most of all, what I’m most curious about is….

‘What does this sequence I’ve completed mean?’

If persuading Kim Ik-jae is the right thing to do, then it would be a completely different ending from the synopsis.

In the synopsis, the female lead handed over the evidence and disappeared completely, and the king faced the Queen Dowager alone.

But after actually becoming the king and living, it was close to unreasonable.

If this is the real ending.

If this world is conveying some fact to me….

‘What about the existence of the Chief Eunuch, who wasn’t in the script?’

Then, a faint shout was heard in the distance.

Gradually, the shouting grew louder, and the sound of soldiers moving somewhere in the palace was heard.

“Chief Eunuch.”

“Your Majesty.”

I opened my mouth at the same time as the Chief Eunuch.

The two of us quickly opened the door and ran out.

When I opened the door, torches that lit up the darkness like constellations embroidering the black night were burning.

In the distance, the large gate that blocked the space between the buildings was wide open.

And in front of it, there were young eunuchs who risked their lives to open the gate, enduring the threats of the Royal Guards.

Beyond the gate, scholars in white robes and local troops entered without hesitation.

It was a shocking scene.

To be able to witness the moment when the country and the political situation changed from such a close distance.

The Chief Eunuch also couldn’t hide his overwhelming expression.

In the distance, the Queen Dowager was seen hurriedly approaching, leading a group.

“Traitors, they’re traitors! What are you doing? Those who disturb the solemn palace…!”

Before the Queen Dowager’s scream-like words could finish, countless scholars split into two groups.

From within them, a scholar, small but with a straight back, walked out.

It was Kim Ik-jae.

It was the first time I had seen his face, but I knew it right away.

He was the one who had the power to break the Queen Dowager’s spirit and change the flow of the air in the palace.

Behind him stood Sun-im.

Kim Ik-jae shouted in a clear voice.

“You shouldn’t be saying that, you who have joined hands with the traitors!”

The Queen Dowager’s momentum faltered.

A man who had raised disciples in the wilderness and was revered by scholars from all over the country.

He was someone even the Queen Dowager couldn’t rashly draw a sword against.

The Queen Dowager pointed her finger at Sun-im and burst into a roar.

“That one is a woman! How can you believe only the words of that woman who has disturbed the solemn court and accuse me, the mother of the King, of being in league with the traitors!”

The fact that Sun-im was a woman was probably the Queen Dowager’s last card.

However….

“Wasn’t it Your Majesty who first brought down the solemn court?”

Kim Ik-jae rebuked the Queen Dowager, who was trembling with anger.

“If falsely accusing the family of a loyal subject of treason and causing their downfall, and contacting other royal descendants to drive out His Majesty, who is in good health, isn’t disrupting the court, then what is!”

Even the Queen Dowager’s eyes trembled.

“A loyal subject, a loyal subject…?”

The Queen Dowager’s gaze went to Sun-im and stopped.

Sun-im was meeting the Queen Dowager’s eyes, trying to suppress the rising emotions.

After a moment, Sun-im took a step forward and opened her mouth.

“I am.”

In an instant, silence fell within the palace.

Sun-im paused for a moment and looked at me.

I nodded and smiled at Sun-im.

Then, Sun-im continued.

“I am the daughter of Song In-seok, the Grand Scholar who was falsely accused of treason and died unjustly 15 years ago.”

Sun-im took out a letter from her sleeve.

“This letter contains clear evidence of the Queen Dowager’s scheme that led to my parents’ unjust deaths!”

The Queen Dowager’s face turned white as she listened to Sun-im’s words.

“How, how did you get that…? What are you doing! Quickly, cut off their heads!”

The Queen Dowager shouted as if in despair.

Now it was my turn.

I went and stood in front of the Queen Dowager.

I gathered strength in my lower abdomen and shouted to the soldiers guarding the Queen Dowager’s back.

“Will you die as traitors, or will you remain as loyal subjects!”

A chilling wind blew.

It was the very last moment.

Whether a bloodbath would occur in the palace or whether peace would be achieved depended on the hands of the soldiers holding the swords.

Clang-.

At that moment, the sound of someone’s weapon falling was heard.

Soon, in succession, the sound of metal and earth colliding was heard, like the sound of rain.

As the sound faded away, the Queen Dowager collapsed with weakened legs.

I looked at the Queen Dowager with cold eyes.

I ordered the palace attendants who were guarding the Queen Dowager’s side.

“Escort Her Majesty to the Queen Dowager’s residence.”

The palace attendants hesitated and helped the Queen Dowager up.

The Queen Dowager was dragged away, shouting and screaming.

“His Majesty cannot do this to me. Don’t be mistaken. His Majesty is not the right person to lead the country!”

The Queen Dowager’s desperate cries scattered in the air.

The Chief Eunuch watched the Queen Dowager’s departing figure and opened his mouth.

“His Majesty, with his upright character, is already the one who possesses the country. He is and will be our lord.”

Then, all the soldiers, officials, and scholars in the palace began to bow before me.

A spectacle unfolded where hundreds of people, who seemed to number in the hundreds, prostrated themselves before me.

Seeing that sight, my heart beat rapidly.

It was the moment when the long and arduous journey was coming to an end.

At that moment, a small golden light began to flicker before my eyes.

No.

So suddenly.

“Sun-im!”

I ran to Sun-im, who was standing far away and bowing, and helped her up.

I took Sun-im’s hand.

People’s eyes turned this way.

“Sun-im. I won’t forget you.”

“Yes?”

She seemed quite flustered by my sudden change in tone.

“Sun-im.”

“Your Majesty. Why are you talking as if you’re leaving somewhere….”

Confusion filled Sun-im’s face at my desperate tone.

“I’ll…. I’ll make you, a truly living, breathing person.”

And I shouted to the Chief Eunuch.

“Chief Eunuch… Grandpa! I won’t forget you!”

Then, contrary to my expectations that he would be flustered, the Chief Eunuch smiled and bowed.

It was an incomprehensible thing.

As if he knew everything….

“Your Majesty.”

Then, Sun-im’s voice was last heard in my ear.

I held Sun-im’s hand tightly.

Unlike the long time we had spent together, it was a short farewell.

I looked at Sun-im’s face and entrusted myself to the dazzling light that was gradually reaching out towards me.

Goodbye, everyone.

[Mission Complete.]

I’ll Die as an Actress This Time